The Heart of the Desert
by MidnightCherryBlossoms
Summary: Friend or foe? He wanted to know who she really was, he wanted to know her true-self. Gaara never learnt what it felt like to love someone until he met her......GaaraxOC warning. Spoilers for some episodes EARLY CHAPTERS REWRITTEN!
1. Chapter 1

Author: Yes, I changed my penname. Yes, I rewrote the chapter because of many reasons.

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon! I only own several characters here (Also it contains some spoilers for some Naruto episodes!) Why did I use characters from CCS? Cause I like 'em. That's why.

* * *

A girl with dark auburn hair and amber liquid eyes woke up to the sound of swords clashing. Her name was Li Freya. She's part of a noble clan who practice sorcery and martial arts. However, at this time, only three of the members are currently residing in the clan's territory.

One of them was Freya herself of course. The other two, her brothers. Rouryuu, who was sixteen and Syaoran, who was fourteen. Freya herself was just a few months shy of her twelfth birthday.

Freya was the only child in her family with a middle name. Her middle name was given not long after her father had died. Sakura was her father's favorite flower.

Her other sisters and mother were on a ritual journey right now. Leaving Freya and her two brothers to look after themselves and the clan territory.

Many years ago, the branch families have migrated to other countries to live. Only Freya's family, the main family, stayed and resided in Konoha. This happened right after the family head, Freya's father, had passed on when Freya was very young. During that time, the trust of the branch members towards the main family was not very strong because of several reasons.

With head held high, her mother, Yelan, took over the duties of her beloved late husband and became clan head even though only her family remained in Konoha.

Freya and her two brothers were the only members who practice the art of the ninja. The rest of their family only used sorcery and martial arts in combat, as each of the members in the main family are blessed with the ability to control one element.

While Rouryuu could control the wind, Freya and her brother Syaoran were the only two in the last century who could control several. Freya had the ability to command any element at will and Syaoran, five. Wind, water, fire and earth. He had yet to master ice.

Syaoran had no total control over his power and Freya had yet to show any signs of losing control. With this, the clan elders labeled them the dangerous ones. That was one reason why the branch members distrusted Freya's family.

As the two whom were the only males in their family and the most likely to succeed their mother, Rouryuu had been passed on his father's Wind Scroll and Syaoran, his father's sword. Freya's only gift from her late father was a bell choker.

The three of them formed their own shinobi team and were under the guidance of the Third Hokage. However, their identities were kept hidden with cat masks. Cat masks because Freya was born with cat-like powers.

Which is also another reason why the other branch members think that Freya was very out of the ordinary.

When not wearing masks, the three siblings take up fake identities. Or as they liked to call it, their 'villager identities'. Freya was called Kura. Rouryuu, Ryuu and Syaoran, Ran.

They were strictly instructed from a very tender age, to not talk about their family background to anyone at all. They kept their ninja and villager lives separate. Very few people knew about that.

Freya quickly took a shower and put on her clothes and forehead protector. She looked around her room to make sure everything was in order and took up her belongings.

Tying on her bell choker, a gift from her late father, she looked at the rest of her pictures and closed the door behind her and quickly ran down the stairs.

"Mornin'," Rouryuu greeted, looking up at her. Rouryuu was very tan from the farm work he usually did as a villager. He had a tall and well-muscled frame with messy charcoal hair and the same amber eyes his sister had.

"Shall we get going?" Syaoran asked. He and his brother bore a striking resemblance to each other, but he had chestnut hair and was slightly fairer than his older brother.

Freya nodded. Putting on their masks, they headed out towards the Hokage's office.

* * *

(At the Hokage's Office)

Freya knocked on the office door. "Come in," an old voice said.

"Good morning, Sandaime," the siblings chorused, taking off their masks and bowing to him in respect.

"Good morning to you three too," the Hokage replied.

"As you three know, the chunnin exams are approaching and I want you to participate in it this time," he continued.

He waited for their reactions. Rouryuu's demands of 'why only now?', Syaoran's saying of what made him decide now and Freya's asking if it's true.

"You want us to participate in the chuunin exams? But…why do you only make us go for it now??" Rouryuu asked, trying to keep the demanding tone out of his voice.

"So, when is this chuunin exam? And what made you decide for us to take it at this time?" asked Syaoran.

"The first exam starts tomorrow at 3.30 p.m. and I don't feel like saying why only now and what made me decide," the Hokage replied.

"Can we really take the chuunin exams?" asked Freya with enthusiasm.

"Yes you really can Freya," the Hokage answered back smiling."I will put it under my name".

The siblings looked at each other. Rouryuu was still staring at the Hokage with a doubtful look. Syaoran had a thoughtful expression and Freya's was pure happiness.

"Thank you," Freya said, bowing again.

"Yes, thank you very much for giving us this chance," Syaoran followed, bowing as well.

"Thank you… I guess," Rouryuu said, bowing down doubtfully.

"Okay, now I want you to catch Konohamaru and bring him here."

"Understood," the siblings replied back.

"Good, you are all now dismissed," the Hokage said.

"This is weird. Why're we only allowed to take the exams _now?_ We could've been jounins a long time ago," Rouryuu grumbled to his siblings as soon as they were out of the tower.

"Oh, never mind. At least we get to take them now right? Better late than never," Freya told him.

"Right, now let's catch Konohamaru," Syaoran said.

"Right," his other two siblings replied. The two boys looked at Freya and nodded. They put on their masks and set out to the direction where Freya was heading to. They knew that Freya knew what she was doing.

* * *

"Hey, Sakura-chan lets go on a date!" a blonde boy with blue eyes said, energetically.

"No way Naruto!" a girl with pink hair and light green eyes snapped back.

"Why noooot?" Naruto whined.

"Just because I said so," Sakura snapped back.

Naruto continued to whine until he felt something bump against his leg and turned around to look. He saw a square box which was the color of the ground sitting right there on the floor.

'_Is that supposed to be a rock?!_' Naruto wondered.

He pretended to not notice it and continued to follow Sakura and whine. The "Rock" continued to follow him and stopped every time he turned to look.

Naruto was getting tired of it so he said, "I know it's you Konohamaru."

"As I expected! You are definitely worthy of being my rival!" a voice from the "Rock" said. The box flew open and three kids around the age of seven appeared.

"We are the Konohamaru Corp!" the three said.

"Konohamaru, the future Hokage!" a boy with brown hair said.

"Moegi who possess the sex appeal of an adult woman!" a girl with blush on her cheeks said.

"Umm…Udon who loves adding numbers!" a brown haired boy with glasses said.

"Come on Sakura-chan!!" Naruto whined completely ignoring Konohamaru and his friends.

Konohamaru looked at Naruto and at Sakura and grinned evilly and said, "Hey boss, is she your this?" Konohamaru held his right pinky up.

"Hehehehe…, you kids are sure sharp!" Naruto laughed and scratched his head. Sakura fumed at what he said and hit Naruto and Konohamaru on their heads when she heard what they said.

"Hey it's not like that!" she said angrily.

" I don't understand your choice boss, why choose this ugly, big-foreheaded, loud mouth girl who hits people for nothing when there are other girls to choose?!" Konohamaru said angrily while rubbing the spot where Sakura had hit.

Every vein on Sakura's temple popped up when she heard what Konohamaru said.

"Why you!!" Sakura said angrily chasing Naruto and his friends.

Konohamaru bumped into someone and he looked up and paled as he saw a tall male teenager in black who was much bigger than him, with purple face paint glaring angrily down at him.

The stranger roughly grabbed the front of Konohamaru's shirt and said, "What do you think you're doing huh?! You shouldn't run into others!"

"Ssor...ry," Konohamaru replied shakily.

"You know what? I hate people who are shorter than me!" he said angrily.

"Hey stop it Kankuro, he already said sorry!" a blonde teenage girl with four pigtails and what curiously looked like a giant fan strapped on her back said.

Completely ignoring the girl he said, "I also hate it if they are younger than me!"

"Do what you want, I'll not be responsible for what you do," the girl huffed.

"Hey stop what you're doing!" Naruto shouted angrily.

The male teenager, whose name was Kankuro, ignored him completely.

"I'll beat you up if you don't!" he shouted again, hoping that Kankuro would feel threatened.

"Oh really?" Kankuro said releasing his hold on Konohamaru and taking a bandaged object from his back.

"Konohamaru-chan! Are you okay?" Moegi and Udon said as they ran to their friend.

Sakura looked at their forehead protectors which signified both the fact that they were ninjas and the village which they belonged to.

"You people are not from this village, you are not allowed to enter others' villages unless with permission!" Sakura said angrily.

"Chill, look here's my passport," the blonde girl said.

Sakura looked at it and it said "Sabaku no Temari, here under the Kazekage of Sunagakure's permission".

Sakura wondered what were they were doing here. Kankuro was just about to release his weapon from its bandages when a stone hit his wrist and a feminine voice shouted, "Konohamaru-kun!" at the same time.

They looked to the right and saw a black-haired boy with a rock in his hand up on a tree. While they were looking a flash of light passed them and knocked out the wrapped object from Kankuro's hand.

They looked back at Kankuro and saw a girl who was much shorter than him, wearing a white cat mask holding Kankuro's hand.

"Fre…fhfh!," Naruto muffled because Sakura clamped her hand onto Naruto's mouth.

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed into his ear. They knew who was under that mask for they had known the girl and her siblings for a long time.

Kankuro was surprised at the girl's sudden move and jumped backwards and said menacingly, "So, you wanna fight huh?!"

Two other boys with similar cat masks came up and stood in front of the girl.

Kankuro gulped and the black-haired boy on the tree suddenly said, "Did you know that you're not supposed to create havoc in others' villages and what are you doing here anyway?"

He crushed the stone in his hand and Sakura and Moegi had heart-shaped eyes and were practically screaming, "Sasuke's so cool!"

Freya was not reacting to what Sasuke was doing for she had absolutely zero interest in him.

'_He's kinda cute'_ Temari thought. Konohamaru was telling Naruto how uncool he was.

Kankuro smirked and picked up his weapon and tried to use it again and this time, a cold voice said, "Stop it Kankuro. Don't create trouble."

Temari and Kankuro looked up next to Sasuke and saw a red haired boy with teal eyes and a gourd hanging down from the branch which was next to the one which Sasuke was sitting on.

"Sorry for what he was doing," the red-haired boy said tonelessly to the Konoha villagers as he jumped down from the tree. Although he had apologized, he didn't sound sorry at all.

He stood in front of the two boys with cat masks and Sasuke jumped down in front of him.

"What's your name?" Sasuke asked him.

"Sabaku no Gaara," he answered coldly and slowly. "Yours?"

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke replied.

Gaara looked at the two boys in the masks indicating he wanted to know their names.

Seeing that it was no harm to give their name if they don't show their identity, Rouryuu replied, "Li, Li Rouryuu. Of Konoha's Li Clan."

"Li Syaoran," Syaoran said poisonously, still sending glares to the Sabaku siblings from under his mask. Particularly Kankuro.

Gaara looked at the girl with the white mask and his look showed that he was interested in her the most. Freya herself raised an eyebrow.

'_He's a strange one…'_ Freya thought.

"Li Sakura… Freya."

* * *

Author: I hope the rewritten chapter was more bearable or something like that. I rewrote it cause I know when a lot of you read the old one, you think I'm making Freya a MarySue. I'll try not to love my characters too much now. I know I didn't change a lot, but I've rewritten this chapter three times already. So hopefully, this will be the last time!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or CCS. I only own a few characters here. Oh yes, before I forget, pokemon are also used in this story. Why? Cause I want it to be like that.

* * *

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 2

Gaara registered her name into his memory.

'_So, they're siblings huh?'_ he thought and suddenly Naruto shouted, "Hey you wanna know my name?!"

Gaara looked at him and coldly said, "No. Come on lets go."

Temari and Kankuro nodded shakily and trailed after Gaara. Naruto was glaring at Gaara, apparently pissed at his attitude and looked at Sasuke and snorted with anger. He was angry that Sasuke always got attention instead of him. The Li siblings were an exception because they are wearing masks and looked like assassins but why always Sasuke?

"Hey Freya!" Naruto said cheerily looking at Freya who already took off her mask.

If Sakura did not want to go on a date with him, maybe Freya would; anyway she was prettier too. Before he could say anything else, Freya smiled at him and greeted good morning back to him and turned to look at Konohamaru.

Her brothers took off their masks and all three turned around and looked at Konohamaru. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Moegi and Udon looked at them with interest wondering what did Konohamaru did this time to make the Hokage tell them to catch him.

Konohamaru looked at them nervously and said, "Hehehe…what do you want Freya? You look especially pretty today!"

Syaoran took out a rope and Rouryuu started chanting incantations onto the rope.

Freya instantly disappeared and appeared behind Konohamaru and hit nerve spots on his legs and he fell down. Syaoran and Rouryuu quickly took action and tied Konohamaru up. The rope paralyzed Konohamaru, therefore he couldn't move anything but his head.

Freya had a look of pity on her face and she said, "Sorry Konohamaru-kun, Sandaime asked us to do it."

Rouryuu heaved Konohamaru onto his left shoulder and lifted Freya onto his right shoulder to make sure that Konohamaru would not escape.

"Jaa" Rouryuu said, holding up his right hand and put on his mask.

The rest of them sweat dropped as Konohamaru shouted, "Untie me! Untie me I said!"

"Sorry Konohamaru, buddy. Your grandfather wants a word with you," Syaoran said smirking, before putting on his own mask.

"Bye!" Freya said with a smile and masked her face.

* * *

"Ah…I was expecting you Konohamaru," the Hokage said.

"Shut up you old geezer!" Konohamaru shouted angrily.

Freya leapt off her brother's shoulder and Rouryuu put down Konohamaru, not bothering to untie him.

"Rouryuu, Syaoran and Freya you can leave now and don't forget that the exam is at the academy at 3.30 p.m. on the third floor, in room 301," the Hokage smiled broadly.

With a curt nod, each of them walked out of his office, the sounds of Konohamaru's shouting getting fainter and fainter.

"So, Rouryuu, Syaoran, what are you gonna do today?" Freya asked.

"Well…we did volunteer at one of the rice plantations that we would plant the rice and agreed to Iruka's request to demonstrate the use of kunais and shurikens at the academy today." Syaoran answered.

"Okay, I guess I'll just go to the flower fields then and will you please buy some rice on the way back?" Freya said.

"Sure anything you say," Rouryuu said grinning at his little sister.

"Thanks!" Freya instantly disappeared with a puff.

"Right, let's get going," Rouryuu said to his younger brother. Syaoran nodded and followed his brother.

Freya returned home to change into her villager's clothes and took her bag containing the things she wanted to bring to her destination.

Freya went to her usual spot in the flower fields, under a Sakura tree with her sketch pad in hand and sat down. She loved feeling the gentle breeze of the wind blowing and the warm sunshine shining down onto her. She had left her mask at home.

Freya took out some scrolls that were obtained by some of her ancestors who traveled around the world and visited hidden villages. These scrolls contained jutsus that were used by other villages and had been accumulated in the Li archives over the centuries. Freya had no idea how her ancestors had come into possession of these scrolls. By means of theft? Gambling? Payment? She'll never know.

Freya had a curious streak, and found fun in being able to manipulate elements. She started reading the scroll which contained ninjutsus using the element of the sand. Suddenly a shadow crossed over her scroll and when Freya looked up, she saw a red-haired boy with teal eyes standing over her.

Freya smiled as she realized who it was. Gaara. Freya looked at him and smiled'

"Hello there."

Gaara looked at the pretty girl with a faint tint of red on his cheeks and said nothing. Freya knew he didn't know that she had already met him.

"May I know your name?" she asked.

"Sabaku no Gaara" was his reply. Gaara registered all her facial features and figure, suddenly, Gaara caught sight of the bell choker she was wearing and remembered the sound of her voice.

'_High pitched, melodious, feminine, I've heard that voice somewhere before, and that choker…_' Gaara thought.

Suddenly, Gaara asked Freya , "Your name?"

Freya just continued smiling and brightly said, "Kura"

Seeing that he could not say anything anymore, Gaara asked Freya one last question, "What is this field called?"

"Kaika Hana Hara (Blooming Flowers Field)" Freya answered amused at him.

'_And I thought he was the type to not talk a lot…. Wonder what's wrong with him…maybe he has a slight fever, he seems a little red_' Freya thought to herself.

Gaara took a last glance at the girl and walked away.

'_Does she not think that she would look like an idiot if she keeps smiling?'_ Gaara thought. _'Tch, typical commoners.'_

'_Weird person that Gaara…'_ Freya thought_. 'He does seem nice though if he would just smile and talk friendlily.'_

* * *

"Sheesh! Where is Kakashi-sensei?!" Naruto exploded angrily.

"I'm soo gonna kill him!" Sakura shouted, she balled her hands into fists.

"We might as well just go home," Sasuke said.

At that time a tall masked man with gray hair holding a book with the title "Icha-icha Paradise" appeared.

"Yo, my beloved students….sorry I'm late, I got lost on the Road of Life today…" the man said cheerfully, with a somewhat blissful look on his partly masked face.

"Yeah right!!" Naruto and Sakura exploded at the same time. Sasuke just snorted.

"Well, now that we are all here I guess I should tell you all something. As you know… the chunnin exams are coming…"

"Yeah right, like you told us" Naruto and Sakura both muttered angrily at the same time.

"Wait…the chunnin exams?" Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke asked at the same time with interest.

Kakashi, happy that they always reacted to everything he said, said, "Yes, it will be held tomorrow, I take it that you have seen some ninjas not from our village?"

'_So that was why the people from Suna were here!'_ Sakura thought.

"Yes," the three genins chorused.

"You three are to participate in it!" Kakashi said triumphantly.

"What?! But we're still just rookies!" Sakura said in surprise.

"Ah, well it's your choice if you want to join or not, if you do, the exam starts tomorrow at the academy, in room 301 at 3.30 p.m." Kakashi said brightly.

'_Our choice?_' the three genins thought at the same time.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Kakashi said and with that, he disappeared.

* * *

"Guess it's time to go home," Freya told herself.

She stood up and gathered all her scrolls and put it in her bag and walked in the direction leading to her family's territory. She felt an abnormal gust of wind coming from the garden and she climbed up the garden wall and saw Rouryuu trying to finish his chore of clearing the garden paths using a summoned wind fan.

"Ne, Rouryuu-nii, you know, I suppose that's why they created the rake and the broom," Freya said unexpectedly to Rouryuu.

Realizing that he had been caught in the act by the person in charge of the household, Freya, he quickly put his fan away and took up a broom.

"Hehehe…" Rouryuu laughed nervously.

"Rouryuu-nii, if you keep using the wind fan, you are going to make the garden even dirtier," Freya said patiently to her older brother.

Rouryuu looked around the garden and realized that Freya was right and he grinned at his sister and started sweeping up the leaves.

"Sorry, sorry, I won't do that again. Oh, by the way, Syaoran has the rice. He's in the kitchen writing to mother." Rouryuu said.

Freya nodded a thank you and hurried to the kitchen to cook dinner. She found Syaoran in the kitchen bent over some papers. She saw an envelope with Rouryuu's name on it. Freya quickly dashed to her room, and took an envelope out of her drawer with her name written on it.

She went into kitchen and saw Syaoran sealing his envelope. Freya gave her envelope to her brother.

"Freya, I want to borrow your Pidgeot, the household's Pidgeot is out hunting," Syaoran said to his little sister.

"Right," Freya said releasing her unnaturally large Pidgeot. Syaoran put the letters into a pouch and buckled it over Pidgeot's head.

"I'm counting on you," Syaoran said as Freya gave it a kiss. Pidgeot crooned and flew out of the kitchen.

* * *

Gaara sat, unmoving on the floor in the room where he was residing during the period of the current chuunin exams. He heard his two other siblings arguing loudly in the other room.

'_That girl…'_ Gaara thought. '_Kura… '_

He had only been interested in Kura, because she looked like a normal villager. A normal villager, in possession of a ninjutsu scroll. He had been more interested, because he recognized a few of the jutsus his father had taught him in that scroll.

* * *

Note: Rewrote this chapter as well. I have yet to rewrite the next few chapters as well. R&R !

-MCB


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or CCS. I only own a few characters here. Oh yes, before I forget, pokemon are also used in this story. Why? Cause I want it to be like that.

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 3

Freya woke up, feeling groggy. She got cleaned up and dressed in her ninja ensemble. Her ensemble consisted of a sleeveless mandarin top in navy silk with an oriental butterflies print and a black pleated skirt with leggings that reached mid-thigh beneath. Her pouch consisting of kunais and shurikens was strapped on her right thigh. Her hair was done up in a messy up-do, forehead protector wrapped around her lower waist, around her hips, serving as a belt and were her other pouch was strapped onto. Instead of the standard sandals that most of the other ninjas use, she wore midnight blue flats.

"Freya! Your letter's arrived!" Rouryuu called all the way from the kitchen.

"Yes! I'll be right there!"

She entered the kitchen, where her brothers were having breakfast while reading their letters.

"Yours is over there," Syaoran gestured towards an unopened envelope, sitting next to a bowl of neatly cut fruits, exactly what she always ate for breakfast.

"Thank you," She sat down and tore open the envelope.

There written in perfect calligraphy print was a reply from Freya's mother. It was telling her that her mother's journey with her sisters was progressing well and that they might return home anytime soon. It also reminded her to take care of herself and make sure that her brothers were eating properly and observing their hygiene.

"Well, I am insulted!" Rouryuu suddenly huffed.

His other two siblings looked up.

"Why?" Syaoran asked. "That's nothing new."

"Oh, be quiet," Rouryuu replied crankily. "One of our dear sisters wrote down a short message on my letter from mother. It says, _'Rouryuu, you pig. If you don't stop being such a lazy slob, you will never get a girl. Honestly, cleaning up the garden using your affinity for the wind instead of using a broom and a rake is just too lazy of you. I hope you fail the Chuunin exams. Peace.'_ "

"You told on me?" Rouryuu asked his sister, forming sad, puppy eyes.

"Stop that face Ryuu, you're making me lose my appetite," Syaoran said. "I was the one who told on you, by the way."

"Damn you!" his older brother gasped.

"Thank you," Syaoran said, boredly flipping through a newspaper.

"Both of you, stop bickering!" Freya warned. "And Rouryuu-nii, Syao-nii is right. You're supposed to be a man. Men do not make those kind of eyes."

Rouryuu gave Syaoran a suspicious look. "What have you been teaching her? Ways to go against our lovely older brother?"

Syaoran snorted. "More like, ways to deal with your gay older brother."

Rouryuu huffed. "I am not gay! I happen to have an interest in girls!"

Freya looked at him in surprise. "Really? But a lot of the female villagers are interested in you and you always reject them. Like invitations to village festivals, dances and stuff. I always assumed you batted for the other team."

"You just got _owned,_" Syaoran cracked up.

"Noo!!! My cute little sister's going against me!" Rouryuu glared at his younger brother. "It's your fault."

"No it isn't!" Syaoran said, standing up. "You guys'd better hurry up. Or we're going to be late."

* * *

Freya knocked on the office door and a voice said, "Enter."

"Good morning, Sandaime." The siblings chorused taking off their masks bowing respectfully.

"Good morning," the Hokage replied.

"Today, your mission is to look after some academy students while their teachers attend a meeting, understood?"

"But, that's hardly a mission!" Rouryuu protested. "You've been giving us internal D-ranked missions instead of the usual higher-ranked ones these past two weeks. Why?"

Sarutobi looked at him. "That's because I do not want you three to stress yourselves out before the exams this afternoon."

"But we hardly ever get injured," Syaoran interjected as respectfully as he could.

The Hokage looked at the youngest sibling. "Freya, do you have anything to say?"

She looked surprised. "Eh? N-no. I don't think anything's wrong with the mission you're giving us. Although, it seems more like an assignment, if you will. It's nice to have easy, laid-back missions. It's a change from the ones where we're usually stealthy and alert."

Their mentor nodded. "Exactly. For years now, you all have been going on missions where your lives are endangered and missions were you have to be like the shadows. It's like yin and yang. If you don't balance out the types of missions you do, it wouldn't be very good for you. The three of you are still very young. Try to balance out your lives."

Rouryuu still opposed and clenched his fists, but he said nothing. What the Third had said was true to a certain extent.

"The class you are looking after is Konohamaru's class, I take it you know where it is right?" the Hokage asked. His students nodded.

"Your assignment will be until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And the chunnin exams will be thirty minutes right after that. I want you to prevent the children from entering the third floor understand? Keep them out of trouble. And make sure every one of them leaves the academy at three o'clock sharp."

"Understood, we are taking our leave now," Rouryuu said bowing. The other two did the same and with that, they put on their masks, getting ready to leave.

Before exiting the room, Rouryuu turned back and asked, "Why only now?"

"Only now what?"

"The chuunin exams. Why only now?"

"Mission comes first," the Hokage said smiling.

Rouryuu looked irritated and just left without another word.

The Hokage just stared after them.

"The seal is unstable. I fear that it will break soon….." the Hokage said to himself quietly.

* * *

It was ten o'clock when Freya and her brothers reached the academy.

They went to Konohamaru's classroom and were greeted by Iruka, "Ah, Good morning, I will trust you in looking after these kids okay?"

"Mornin' and yep, you can count on us," Rouryuu grinned, giving him a thumbs-up.

Iruka smiled gratefully, thanked them and left, not before warning his students to stay out of trouble and to cooperate with the substitutes.

"How're you guys doin'? Remember us? " Rouryuu said pointing at himself and at Syaoran (of course they still have their masks on).

"Yes!" the class chorused.

A little boy shouted, "The big brother gray cat and amber cat!"

Konohamaru grinned and waved at them hoping that they were not there to catch him again.

"This is our sister," Rouryuu introduced Freya.

"Nice to meet you guys," Freya held up her hand in a greeting. "Li Freya. Call me Freya."

They spent the rest of the school hours playing games with the children until it was three in the afternoon.

After the last child went home, Freya enthusiastically turned to her brothers.

"Now that they have gone home, let's get going!"

The two brothers, amused at their sister's enthusiasm, nodded. They walked up the stairs to the first floor and to the second floor. They looked and spotted a crowd that was blocking a door, with a plate engraved with the number '301'. The siblings looked at each other and went to see what was going on. They spotted two boys blocking the doorway and they were pushing back a brown-haired girl who was wearing her hair in a pair of buns.

"Now, that ain't gentlemanly at all...." Rouryuu muttered under his breath to his siblings.

"Listen, we're doing you a kindness you know? The chuunin exams aren't that easy. We've failed 3 times on a straight row and besides, if you become chuunins, you have to be a military leader, your comrades' lives will be put into your hands and you kids still think you can pass?" one of the boys said roughly.

"Whatever." Sasuke said. He was among the crowd who was surrounding the the two boys blocking the door.

"You will move out of the way and dispel this genjutsu surrounding the area; I'm heading to the third floor."

The others around him looked at the dark-haired boy in surprise. The other genins were talking among themselves.

_"What is he saying?" _

_"What does he mean third floor? Isn't this the third floor?"_

"Oh, very impressive" one of the boys complemented him, smirking.

"You, Sakura, must have noticed it earlier right? Your genjutsu know how is the most improved in our team," Sasuke continued.

"Thanks Sasuke-kun! " Sakura turned to the two boys. "I noticed it ages ago. When we first came here, actually. This is the second floor right?"

The room number plate swirled and turned into the number 201.

"Anyone observant enough would've known," Rouryuu scoffed.

"I bet these kids stuck here are just too excited to enter the chuunin exams," Syaoran whispered to his siblings.

Freya stared hard at the two boys. "Aren't they using transformation technique?"

"Very impressive, rookie...."

"But all you did was…SEE THROUGH!" one of the boys aimed a kick at Sasuke, who reflexively aimed back a kick. At once, two people stopped their attacks in a split second at the same time. Freya was holding the boy's leg while a boy in a green suit with a bowl haircut and fuzzy eyebrows was holding Sasuke's leg. Rouryuu and Syaoran were surprised at their sister's action.

"Oi! Freya!" Rouryuu quietly cursed.

The boy whose leg Freya was holding was also surprised. Sakura was shocked at seeing the two people grabbing hold of the two boys' legs so quickly.

Freya simply said, "You're not supposed to fight before the chuunin exams." She moved over to one side and allowed the two boys to stand up.

'_That guy, this chakra in_ _his arms…_'Sasuke thought, studying the boy in the green suit. He cast a glance at his bandaged arms.

"Oi…..Lee, you were the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves," a long haired boy with pupil-less eyes said, coming up and frowning at the boy with fuzzy eyebrows whose name was apparently Lee.

Lee just ignored him and turned to look at Sakura , "My name is Rock Lee….so your name is Sakura…Let's go out together! I'll protect you till I die!"

Giving a thumbs up, he grinned toothily at the pink-haired girl.

"No…Way I'll never go out with you, you're…you're.. too…unique!" Sakura said, with a horrified look.

Lee looked rejected and resided in his sulk corner. Completely ignoring his comrade, the long haired boy turned and looked at Sasuke and asked, "Hey you, what's your name?"

'_Sasuke again! It's always about him!' _Naruto thought angrily.

Sasuke replied, "When you want to know someone's name you have to give yours first."

'_He's kinda cute....'_ the girl with buns thought.

"You're a rookie right? How old are you?" the long haired boy asked again, apparently pissed at Sasuke's attitude.

"I don't have to answer you." was Sasuke's cold reply. The long-haired boy turned and looked at Freya but before he could say anything, Freya's older brothers in stood in front of him.

"Ask no questions, " the Syaoran said to him in a monotone.

"**_Brat_**," Rouryuu added, for a poisonous, menacing effect.

Seeing that he could not ask the girl anything, he just gave up and walked to his comrades.

"Hey you wanna know my name?" Naruto called after the long-haired boy.

"Not interested," he replied coldly.

* * *

Completely forgotten, the two boys earlier hid behind the door and transformed back into their original selves. After the transformation, they were revealed to be two adult male ninjas.

"Heh…so those are Gai's, Kakashi's and the Hokage-sama's prize subordinates huh?" one of them asked.

"I suppose so… anyhow this exam's gonna be fun for us examiners too." The other one said.

* * *

"You shouldn't have done that Freya," Rouryuu chided, while they were walking to the examination venue.

"I know, but one of them could've gotten hurt!" Freya protested. "Those boys earlier who were blocking the door aren't really what they appear to be you know. I noticed that they were using the transformation technique."

Syaoran thought about what Freya said. "You know, you might be right…. I sensed that something was different about those two earlier."

"About those two who?" a new voice interrupted.

The siblings looked in front of them. It was Kakashi. He was standing in front of the door leading into the room 301. He held up a hand and smiled in greeting.

"Yo!"

"Long time no see," Rouryuu exchanged high fives with the older male. "I see you're still reading those perverted erotic novels huh?"

Kakashi chuckled. "My, my, when you reach my age, I assure you, you will definitely love this series. Did you know in this book? The plot's actually pretty interesting..…."

Syaoran grimaced and gestured towards himself and Freya. " Please, no discussing of these sort of things in front of the underaged?"

"I heard that a movie version's coming out!" Freya volunteered cheekily.

"Freya!" Syaoran said, somewhat appalled.

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry!"

Kakashi chuckled. "Well, you three best be on your way now. Good luck."

The three of them thanked him and quietly entered the room. Many ninjas wearing different forehead protectors who were littered all around the room did not notice their stealthy arrival. Freya scanned the room and saw the Sabaku siblings who, apparently did not notice them, somewhere in the room. She smiled secretly to herself and glanced at the clock. It was 3.25 p.m. already.

The chose a spot in the far corner of the room. Freya, who had height issues, and somewhat of a Napoleon complex, sat on Rouryuu's broad shoulders to have a better view of the room.

"Hey look, Kankuro it's those three again," Temari said nudging her brother.

"Huh? Which three?" Kankuro said looking at where Temari was pointing.

"Oh, _those_ three. Now their names were I think.... the gray one was Li Rouryuu, the amber one was Li Syaoran and the white one was…. I think it was umm… Li Sakura……," Kankuro said thinking hard to remember the youngest Li sibling's name.

"Freya," Gaara said quietly.

"Huh?" Kankuro said to Gaara.

"Freya," He replied again softly but clearly. Temari and Kankuro were surprised. Usually Gaara was the type who didn't bother remembering names of others whom he had never seen in action.

'_Wonder what's up with that freak of a little brother of mine'_ Kankuro thought to himself.

* * *

"Geez, don't other ninjas have respect for the properties of the government?" Rouryuu muttered angrily to his siblings.

The room was out of order and most of the tables and chairs were in the way. Some ninjas were sitting, lying or standing on the table.

Rouryuu had a great love of law and politics. Even the slightest and smallest of things, like this, for instance, peeved him.

"Just ignore them," Freya advised.

"Oh hey, Naruto and the others are here," Syaoran said.

All three of them watched as Naruto and his comrades enter the room.

'_What? All these ninjas are here to take the exam?'_ Sakura scanned the room like a deer in the headlights, terrified by some of the expressions of the other ninjas.

"Sasuke-kun!" a blonde haired girl came bounding at Sasuke, and flung herself at him. Sasuke instantly wore an annoyed look on his face.

"Get away from Sasuke! Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted angrily.

The blonde female ignored what Sakura said and still clinging onto Sasuke, she said, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Sakura…… big, ugly fore-headed as ever."

"I haven't seen you in a while so I was waiting for you in excitement!" she added to an annoyed Sasuke.

Naruto spotted the girl, a boy whose hair was in a spiky ponytail and a chubby boy who was eating a packet of crisps.

"Oh, it's the 'Idiot Trio'," Naruto smirked.

"Man, this is troublesome," the boy with the spiky ponytail said. Nara Shikamaru. Always saying the word 'troublesome'.

The chubby boy just continued to eat. Akimichi Chouji. Always eating.

"So you're taking it too huh? Don't die…" Shikamaru said lazily.

"Sasuke is mine….Bleh!" the blonde kunoichi stuck her tongue out at Sakura. Yamanaka Ino. Always fighting over Sasuke with Sakura. Otherwise known as a 'Sasuke-obsessed Freak' to Naruto.

A dark blue haired girl quietly stuttered a hello to Naruto. Hyuuga Hinata. Always very shy and very, painfully quiet.

"So…. All the Konoha rookies nine are all assembled," a person in a gray raincoat with a white puppy on his head said. Inuzuka Kiba. The white puppy was Akamaru, his best friend and trusted partner.

"So I see all of this year's rookies are taking the exam this year eh? I wonder how far we will get eh? Sasuke-kun?" he added, smirking cockily at Sasuke, a challenging look in his eyes.

"Heh, you seem confident, Kiba." Sasuke said, returning the smirk.

"We did a lot of training, we won't lose to you!" Kiba added and the puppy barked, as if to agree.

"Shut up! Sasuke might, but I won't lose to the likes of you!" Naruto exploded angrily.

"Sorry Naruto....Kiba didn't mean to say it in that way," Hinata told Naruto shyly and quietly.

'_That dog sure looks tasty right now..._ ' Chouji thought, advancing towards Kiba.

Suddenly, a boy with sunglasses blocked his way. "You were about to step on it," the boy said quietly. Aburame Shino. A person who loves and collects bugs.

Chouji and Shino looked down on the ground as a cockroach scurried past.

"Were you gonna eat that?" Chouji asked, after a while. Shino looked at him as if Chouji had just insulted him.

A new voice interrupted the friends.

"You guys should be quiet. You guys are just rookies who recently graduated right? Getting all worked up for nothing….geez this isn't a picnic you know."

It was a grey-haired male ninja, with spectacles and who appeared a few years older than them.

"Who do you think you are? My mom?" Ino muttered angrily.

"I'm Kabuto, but look behind you," Kabuto said smirking slightly.

"Behind?" Sakura said. All the rookies looked. They were greeted with a sight of older ninjas glaring at them. These ninjas' protectors' symbols were lines that looked like rain.

"These ninjas are from the Hidden Village of Rain, they have short tempers. Every one is nervous about the exam. Quiet down before you cause a scene. I can't blame you clueless rookies. You guys remind me of myself when I was your age..." Kabuto said.

"Kabuto-san right? So this is your second time?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Actually, no. This is my seventh time. The exam is held twice a year so, this is my fourth year." Kabuto answered with a smile.

"Wow, you sure know a lot about these exams." Sakura said.

"Impressive," Naruto said.

"Yup, now, I'll show you some information about the exam to you cute rookies. With these nin-info cards," Kabuto held up a stack of cards.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"They're just cards with information burnt onto them with chakra," Kabuto answered.

"I have four years worth of information. There are over two hundred cards in here."

"They look blank but you can't view them without my chakra," he said, touching a card and inserting some of his chakra into it. A graph with the name of hidden villages and numbers appeared instantly onto the card.

"These are the names of the villages and number of ninjas that are taking the exam from each village," Kabuto explained.

"Do you have info about each individual?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course, but they are not so perfect though, is there someone you wanna check out?" Kabuto asked.

"Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee," Sasuke said.

"You know their names so this should be easy," he said taking two cards and inserting his chakra into them.

'_I don't know what's happening but I'll pretend I do_' Naruto thought to himself nodding.

"Okay, first is Rock Lee, he's a year older than you guys, he completed 20 D-rank missions and 12 C-rank ones. His jounin is Maito Gai and his taijutsu skills are good but his other skills are terrible. His comrades are Tenten and Hyuuga Neji,"he said pointing to a picture of a girl with buns and a long haired boy."He's from Konoha. A fellow villager,"

'_So his name's Neji huh?_' Sasuke thought to himself.

"And like you guys, this is also his first time taking the exam."

"Next is Sabaku no Gaara, he is your age and has completed a C-rank mission and a B-rank one… wow, a B-rank as a genin..…. and it seems that he returned from all his missions without a single scratch," Kabuto said.

"And his comrades are his siblings, Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kankuro, I don't know his jounin.... he's a foreigner so I don't have anymore information about him."

"Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall and Sound, many outstanding genins from various villages are here to take the exam. Well… the Hidden Sound is a small village and was recently created so there isn't much info, but the rest of the hidden villages have many talented youngsters," Kabuto told them.

"So you mean to say that the rest of the genins are just like Lee and Gaara?" Sakura asked.

Kabuto nodded.

'_This isn't gonna be easy'_ Naruto thought worriedly.

* * *

Outside the door, Kakashi was listening to their conversation. _'I hope they survive'_ Kakashi thought to himself.

Suddenly he heard Naruto's voice, "MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! I WON"T LOSE TO ANY OF YOU!" Kakashi sweat dropped.

* * *

Author: Finally! Another rewrite done. Few more chapters to go. This took me hours ;_; Although the chapter was quite short.

-MCB


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or CCS. I only own a few characters here. Oh yes, before I forget, pokemon are also used in this story. Why? Cause I want it to be like that.

* * *

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 4

"I guess they're feeling confident…" Kakashi mused to himself, outside the door.

'_I said all that but I really ain't feeling that confident..._' Naruto thought nervously.

"Geez, what an idiot," Ino muttered, irritated.

"Hey Sakura, what's with this idiot?" she asked irritatedly.

"That moron, he just turned everyone into his enemies!" Shikamaru exclaimed.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?!?!" Sakura strangled Naruto angrily.

"I was just speaking the truth!" Naruto choked.

Sakura nervously turned to everyone else in the room.

"Ehehehe…..Everyone, it was just a joke, you see he's quite stupid and nervous and you see……"

'_I wonder if the Li siblings are here this time. I heard Freya saying that they were not allowed to take the exams in the past years…'_ Sakura looked around the room.

* * *

"Should we do it now?" a ninja in a furry coat asked his comrades.

They nodded and dashed towards Kabuto and his group. Kabuto looked behind him and instantly knew what was going to happen. A ninja with spiky hair hovered in the air and threw a flurry of kunais at the group. While Kabuto was looking up, the ninja in the furry cape appeared in front of him. Kabuto jumped back quickly.

'_These are hidden Sound's…'_ Kabuto thought.

The furry-caped ninja aimed a punch at him. His punch stopped right in front of Kabuto, and the air around them rippled.

'_He dodged it!'_ Naruto and Sakura were relieved that the grey-haired boy didn't get hurt.

'_Good speed...'_ Sasuke thought, smirking.

Suddenly, the right lens on Kabuto's glasses shattered.

There was silence.

'_I see… that attack was…..'_ Kabuto thought, smirking slightly.

"What's going on? Why did his glasses break?" Sasuke asked, surprised.

"It probably grazed his nose," Shikamaru commented.

Kabuto suddenly started feeling dizzy and coughed out blood.

"Ah!! He threw up!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Kabuto-san!" Sakura gasped, horrified. The others in the room turned to look at the ninjas responsible.

At the back, the Li siblings were watching all this quietly. Freya sat up straighter on her brother's shoulder when Kabuto started coughing and jumped off Rouryuu's shoulders. Before she could advance forward, Syaoran grabbed her arm and shook his head.

"Just watch," he whispered.

Freya looked doubtfully at Kabuto and nodded. She returned to her position on her brother's shoulders and continued watching.

They were greeted with a sight of three ninjas. One of them wore a furry black cape and looked half dead, another had spiky hair and one was a girl with long brown hair. All of them wore protectors which had the symbol of a music note, the Hidden Sound.

"Are you all right, Kabuto nii-chan?!" Naruto asked, concern etching his face.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Kabuto spluttered, getting up.

"How pathetic…. and you expect us to believe you're a 4 year veteran?" the ninja in the furry black cape scoffed at him.

"Write this down in your cards….. the three ninjas from the hidden sound will _DEFINITELY_ become chunnins!"

* * *

"Lee, about that attack…." Neji turned to his teammate.

"No problems in the speed, must be some kind of trick," Lee mumbled.

'_Tch….'_ Gaara narrowed his eyes.

* * *

"**Quiet down, you worthless ninjas!**" a loud voice interjected.

Suddenly there was an explosion. A group of adult ninjas and a man in a huge trench coat appeared.

"Thank you for waiting! I am your first examiner and my name is Morino Ibiki!" the ninja in the trench coat announced.

Everyone wore tense expressions on their faces.

Morino pointed at the Sound Nins , "You sound ninjas should stop doing what you please before the exams or you'll fail!"

The ninja in the furry cape apologized, "I apologize, I got a bit too carried away….."

"Of all monkeys…." Rouryuu started.

"Why is it…?" Syaoran continued.

"Ibiki-san?!?" Freya finished.

The three of them were taken by surprise.

"Ah, here's a good chance to say it, fighting is not allowed unless with your examiners' permissions. Also, if permissions are granted, killing your opponent will **NOT** be tolerated, and pigs who don't obey me will suffer at my wrath…..do I make myself clear?" Morino warned dangerously.

"Heh, this should be easy," a Sound Nin smirked.

"Now, instead of your current seating arrangements, you will go to the seat assigned to you, understood?" Morino explained, ignoring the genin.

"Now, get into a line."

Everyone started to line up at the front of the room.

"No.1 Ouran Arata, no.2….." Morino started assigning seats to the genins.

Naruto was no.29, Hinata sat next to him. Sakura was no. 40, Sasuke was no.52.

"No.60…Sabaku no Gaara," everyone's eyes darted towards a red haired boy with teal eyes as Gaara walked up to his seat.

"No.61……" Morino paused.

He looked at the waiting ninjas who were all holding their breaths and finally said, "I don't read Chinese…"

Everyone sweat dropped. The Li siblings at once knew that one of them was going to sit beside Gaara. Morino turned and discussed something with a fellow chuunin who knew how to read a little Chinese.

'_Oh it's this girl…._' He turned and looked at the ninjas.

"Right, as I was saying, No.61, Li Freya!" he shouted. Everyone's eyes averted to the line. In her cat mask, Freya leapt off Rouryuu's shoulders and landed lightly on the floor.

'_She's beside me?'_ Gaara thought and for no apparent reason, he blushed a little. Freya dusted her skirt and jauntily went up to her seat next to Gaara.

'_So that's her name huh? I've never seen her before… '_ Neji thought.

Many other ninjas were whispering among themselves when they saw Freya. They had not noticed a person like that had entered the room before. Freya saw Gaara and smiled at him from under her mask. Syaoran started fuming.

"Why did she have to sit with _HIM_ of all people?" Syaoran whispered angrily to his older brother.

"Well, I suppose that's just rotten fate," Rouryuu sighed.

Morino went on and on. "No.85, Sabaku no Kankuro! No. 86….." Morino paused again.

He turned at the chuunin who had figured out Freya's name earlier. "Li Syaoran and the other is Rouryuu!" the chuunin whispered.

Morino nodded and said, "No.86, Li Syaoran!" and again everyone looked at the line. A boy in an amber colored cat mask emerged from the line.

'_So they're siblings huh?' _Neji thought.

The ninjas started whispering amongst themselves once again. Syaoran went up to his seat and looked coldly at Kankuro and sat down.

Morino continued. "No.99, Sabaku no Temari!" he shouted. Temari walked to her seat amused that her brothers ended up with two of the Li siblings.

"No.100……"Morino paused.

'_No problem, I already know it'_ he thought as he saw a Chinese name.

"Li Rouryuu!" he finished. Everyone's eyes were directed at the line as a person in a gray cat mask emerged_._

'_So ALL of them are siblings huh?'_ Neji looked at all three of them, in their matching masks._ 'Are they ANBUs or something?'_

The ninjas started to whisper amongst themselves again. Rouryuu went up to his seat muttering something under his breath about people talking behind others' back. Morino went on until the last ninja was seated.

"Now, we'll give you your exams," he said holding up a bunch of papers.

"What a paper exam?!?" Naruto exclaimed. Everyone looked at Naruto.

'_Why???_' Naruto thought.

'_Oh no! This is the worst possible exam for Naruto!'_ Sakura thought worriedly_. 'And we're all separated!'_

Morino and the other chunnins started handing out papers. Freya read the questions and smiled to herself.

'_These questions are easy!_' she thought in her mind. The message entered through her brothers' mind. One of Freya's abilities was to be able to enter people's minds. But she isn't able to read minds.

'_We have done chuunin-level missions after all...'_ Syaoran thought back.

'_Agreed….'_ Rouryuu thought back sweat dropping at his sister's comment.

Their telephatical communication ended when Morino coughed out loud and said, "I'll explain the rules so listen carefully. No questions allowed."

'_Rules? No questions?'_ Sakura wondered bewilderedly.

"First rule is this: You will start off with 10 points each. Each question is worth a point but this test uses a subtraction system. If you answer all ten questions, you get to keep your ten points. Let's say you answer three questions wrong. Your points get subtracted by three points so then your total points will be seven." Morino explained.

'_Ah….I see so if I answer it all wrong, I'll have zero points'_ Naruto thought rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Second rule is this: This is a team test. So whether you pass or not, will be determined by your team's total score. So basically, each team is to compete to see how many points they can hold on to from the total score of thirty points." Morino stated.

"Wait, I don't understand this total team score system either, but why is it a team test?" Sakura demanded.

"Be quiet and listen, you don't have the right to question me and besides, there's a real reason for this rule. Now, the most important rule. The third rule is this: If anyone is caught doing anything suspicious, namely cheating, by the examiners seated at the sides of the room, you will lose two points for every offense." Morino continued.

'_So there are ways to lose points besides answering incorrectly….Naruto, Sasuke, I hope it will not cross your minds to cheat!!_ Sakura cast a glance at them worriedly.

"_We have our eyes on you_..." a chuunin smirked.

"Ones that are caught cheating will only destroy themselves only. As shinobis trying to become chuunins, be proud ninjas," Morino added.

'_Even if Naruto gets zero points, we'll just have to cover for him…..'_ Sakura thought.

"Also if anyone on the team loses all their points, that person will be failed along with his two other teammates," Morino said.

'_What?!' _Sakura and Sasuke thought.

'_I sense two people wanting to kill me…' _Naruto thought shivering.

Sakura and Sasuke were giving Naruto death glares.

"The test lasts for an hour. You will take 45 minutes to answer all the questions and I will be giving you the remaining questions after that," Morino explained.

"The first exam begins now!" he shouted.

* * *

Author: Yes. Another rewrite done. And I was multi-tasking this time BD.

-MCB


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or CCS. I only own a few characters here. Oh yes, before I forget, pokemon are also used in this story. Why? Cause I want it to be like that.

* * *

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 5

Everyone started reading the questions. Reading each question, Naruto started getting more uneasy. Freya had already read through the questions and answered them. She was currently telling the answers to each of her brothers in turn through telepathy.

When Freya was about to tell her brothers the sixth question's answer, Rouryuu suddenly thought, _'Stop telling us Freya, erase a few of your answers let's have some fun collecting answers.'_

Syaoran and Freya smiled secretly to themselves and Freya erased four of her answers.

'_Locate the chuunin, Freya..'_ Rouryuu thought.

'_I see, so they're playing a game huh?'_ Morino thought as he saw Freya erasing her answers.

'_Darn……this is bad. Naruto already started freaking out…'_ Sasuke thought as he saw Naruto shivering and holding his head.

Freya closed her eyes and opened them again. Instead of her usual fiery eyes, her eyes had become a tantalizing shade of emerald green. Her eyes shone in her mask as she they dutifully did what Freya wanted to do. Locate the chuunin.

Freya located the chuunin and told her brothers where he was sitting. Rouryuu nodded and formed a seal with his hands.

_'Wind Secrets Technique!'_

An abnormal breeze blew across the room from the chuunin's location towards Rouryuu. Rouryuu listened to the wind and started writing down answers. Syaoran saw the chuunin and smirked.

_'Burning Fire Copy Technique!' _Syaoran formed the seals quickly, being as discreet as possible.

Syaoran's eyes shone with the chuunin's answers printed on his pupils. Syaoran saw the answers and quickly wrote them down. Freya saw that her brothers had completed their papers so she started collecting answers from the chuunin.

Her eyes had by now, averted to their normal color. Wanting to use them again, Freya silently said "Neko Metsuki!"

Her cat eyes appeared again. Freya directed her eyes at the chuunin and easily looked through his body. She read the answers and quickly wrote them down and completed her paper.

Gaara looked beside him and saw that Freya had finished her paper without committing a single obvious mistake in her so called "information collecting". Freya felt someone staring at her and turned around. She saw Gaara looking at her. Gaara quickly looked away and started his own information collecting.

He held his hands together in a symbol and started forming his "Third Eye"

'_So he's doing it already huh? Not bad for a new comer'_ Morino smirked, watching the red-haired boy.

He turned his attention back to the Li siblings and was caught by surprise. They were doing nothing and were done with their papers.

'_Heh, I was keeping my eyes on them the whole time too'_ Morino thought, smirking.

* * *

'_These questions require a lot of intelligence. Naruto won't be able to answer them, but I might.' _Sakura mused to herself.

'_I see…… I can't answer all these questions…'_ Sasuke realized, smirking slightly to himself.

'_This is seriously bad!'_ Naruto was in near hysterics and was sweating profusely.

'_What should I do what should I do what should I do…?? Just calm down, just calm down…...'_ Naruto thought repeatedly.

By now, he was already shaking all over, violently. Hinata looked at Naruto beside her and instantly had a look of pity on her face.

'_What's this? It's almost as if they're assuming we're gonna cheat!'_ Sasuke looked towards the direction of the chuunins who were watching them intently.

Sakura was thinking about the second rule. _'If they add up all the member's points that means we will be ranked…… How many teams will be able to pass though?' _

"Umm…..excuse me, how many ninjas are allowed to pass?" a random shinobi from the hidden sand asked, as he stood up.

"Heh, it's not like knowing it is gonna help you…. or do you want to be disqualified?" Morino asked in a sinisterly voice.

'_This system is one that encourages us to cheat….. Hopefully Naruto or Sasuke will not do anything foolish and try to cheat……'_ Sakura thought.

'_Calm down, calm down, calm down I'll just have to calmly……'_ Naruto was trying to calm himself down.

'_Cheat in a way I won't get caught!'_ he thought, gripping his hair tightly.

'_No, no, no! I shouldn't do that! It's too dangerous!'_ Naruto thought again, hitting himself.

'_Those guys are watching us so intently…… they must be checking off stuff on those sheets from time to time…'_ Sasuke glanced over at the chuunins lined up at the sides of the room.

'_Someone just got caught!'_ Sasuke watched as an examiner wrote something in his clipboard.

Morino's words echoed through Sasuke's mind, '_As shinobis trying to become chuunins, be proud ninjas…..'_

'_Wait a second……this isn't just a test to measure our intelligence……I get it now!'_

'_Naruto, Sakura hurry up and notice this attempt!'_ Sasuke prayed.

'_Because it will cause you everything……this is…….also to test how well we gather information with our skills…….as shinobis, we must think beyond the impossible…..if you're gonna cheat, don't do it pathetically, do it like a proud ninja. So basically this is a test where we are supposed to try and collect information without the examiners catching you. If you think that way, in a normal test you would be immediately disqualified for cheating……but in this test only two points are subtracted so if one person screws up four times, he would immediately fail…_'

'_Sharingan!'_ Sasuke activated his bloodline limit.

'_Good, I found the right person… my hand's moving without hesitation…'_ Sasuke thought, smirking.

'_Don't look at me that way, Gaara, I already know…'_ Kankuro mused, as he saw his younger brother giving him strange looks.

He glanced at his brother's left hand and thought, _'So he has already started…'_

He cast a look at Syaoran beside him who was playing with his pencil as if he had no worries in the world.

'_Geez… so they noticed it just by listening to the rules huh?? They're better than I thought… those three….' _Kankuro directed his gaze at one of the chuunins.

_'Karasu… I'm counting on you!'_

* * *

Akamaru barked silently at Kiba, who also noticed the reason of this exam.

"Hehehe… thanks Akamaru. Now, for no.4…." Kiba was collecting information by using his puppy.

* * *

A bee ascended onto a ninja's paper and flew back to its owner. Shino. It drew the answer by using a pattern on Shino's paper.

* * *

'_If you see this, put on your protector, Lee….'_ Tenten adjusted a mirror in the ceiling.

Lee noticed it and put on his forehead protector.

* * *

'_The rhythm of the strokes, its order… and number of strokes….. Oh I see_…' the ninja from the Hidden Sound with the furry cape listened carefully

* * *

Neji was looking at the direction of someone's paper. '_Byakugan!_' he thought, his pupil-less eyes changing shape.

Several veins popped appeared around his eyes. Neji saw the answers clearly just like Freya had, using her cat eyes. He quickly wrote the answers down.

* * *

"Umm……Naruto-kun I'll let you see my answers…" Hinata whispered shyly.

Naruto looked at her and whispered, "Really? But we're not supposed to cheat. But then again……"

"Naruto-kun hurry up!" Hinata whispered urgently.

'_Right, they won't notice, this is my only chance to cheat…'_ he thought, edging his head closer to Hinata's paper to read the answers.

Hinata had thought that Naruto realized the exam's true purpose but had no particular jutsu to use to collect answers. Naruto was about to read Hinata's answers when suddenly, a kunai flew past his face and hit a Konoha ninja's paper. Naruto, thinking that he had been caught hurriedly sat up straight.

'_What was that? I was about to look over……' _Naruto was drenched in cold sweat.

The Konoha ninja whose paper had been targeted shouted angrily, "What was that for?!?"

"You messed up 5 times, you _fail,_" a chuunin with a piece of cloth that was draped across his face told him, smirking.

'_So it wasn't me…'_ Naruto thought sighing with relief.

"No… no way!" the ninja stuttered with shock. "What do you mean?!?"

"The two on his team get out of here right now," the chuunin called out, ignoring the poor ninja.

"Darn it!" one of the ninja's comrades cursed.

"Hurry up," the chuunin held the door open for the three of them to exit.

'_That was a close call……I decided not to cheat…' _Naruto thought.

"Naruto-kun……hurry up…." Hinata whispered.

'_Huh?_' Naruto looked at her.

He had completely forgotten about Hinata. Naruto's head was close to Hinata's paper when Naruto heard a scratching of a pencil. He turned and looked at an examiner. The examiner looked at Naruto in the eye and smirked. Naruto felt chills go down his back.

"Hinata you don't understand…" Naruto began, looking right in front of him.

"An incredible ninja like me doesn't need to cheat!" he whispered cheerfully.

Hinata blushed and said, "But Naruto-kun…"

"Besides, you would get into trouble for helping me cheat too," he said sensibly.

'_Huh?'_ Hinata was now confused.

'_Besides if I get caught here, I'll be causing trouble for Sakura-chan and Sasuke...'_ Naruto thought, sweat-dropping as he imagined Sakura and Sasuke hovering above him with knives.

"I'm sorry you're right…" Hinata said softly.

"No problem," Naruto whispered back, grinning.

'_Damn…..I AM an idiot!'_ Naruto crused himself, with tears of regret streaming down his face (anime style).

'_30 minutes have passed so only 15 minutes left…..then the tenth question…'_ Naruto looked at the clock.

'_I'll have to risk everything on the tenth question…'_ Naruto put on a determined expression.

* * *

'_Okay done...'_ Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief after she was done answering her first nine questions.

'_Now for the tenth question…'_

'_Good, it seems that Sakura has finished answering….its finally time to do it'_ Ino started forming seals.

'_Sakura, be thankful that I'm acknowledging your forehead's width and intelligence by using this jutsu!'_ Ino thought, as she completed her technique and instantly fell asleep.

'_Ino's fallen asleep… she must be using that jutsu…'_ Shikamaru watched his friend.

'_That's just one jutsu you can't resist!' _Chouji thought.

Sakura felt something pass through her and she fell forwards onto her desk.

'_Hehehe, sorry Sakura, I'm gonna take over your body for a while then'_ Ino had taken over Sakura's body. And temporarily, Sakura was now Ino.

Ino started memorizing Sakura's answers. Her jutsu could only last for 2-3 minutes. She had to also enter Shikamaru and Chouji's bodies to write down the answers for them too.

An examiner said, "No.102, stand up, you fail. Teammates of his....also fail."

One by one, ninjas were being disqualified for screwing up 5 times or more. Freya couldn't bear to watch them leaving. Some of them had to be dragged out kicking and yelling as if they were going to die.

"No.23, you fail. No.43 and 27 also fail," an examiner called out.

_'That's 13 teams that's failed'_ Kabuto watched as the candidates who were called walked out of the room.

A sand ninja stood up, banging his hand on the table loudly.

'_Idiot, you're scaring Freya'_ Rouryuu glared at the ninja.

He looked at his sister and saw that she was trying to bear it. She was shaking a little. Gaara wondered what was wrong with her.

_'Is she that much of a coward?'_ Gaara mused.

"Do you have proof that I cheated 5 times?" the sand ninja shouted.

"Are you guys watching us all……" He was cut off when a chuunin which had bandages that covered his eyes hit him and pinned him onto the wall.

"You could say that this strength is our proof.... listen, among the chuunins, we are the elites who were assembled to watch over this exam. We haven't missed anything you have done," the chuunin said dangerously.

By now, many of the ninjas were wearing scared looks on their faces.

'_No offense, but what an idiot…'_ Rouryuu cast a glance at Freya who had her head down in her arms on the desk.

Freya had a strange weakness…. a phobia, to be exact. No one had any idea why, but she could get freaked scared when she witnesses cruel acts of violence. A doctor had told her family and the Hokage that probably something she had experienced in the past triggered her subconsciousness, making her afraid. But at the same time, during combat or missions, Freya does not hesitate to fight, injure or even kill.

_'It's almost as if she has split personalities…'_ the doctor had said.

'_Can this hour just hurry up and pass by?'_ Freya prayed silently.

* * *

'_Hmm… he's still calm during all this fuss huh?'_ Morino thought as he looked at Gaara who was not the least disturbed.

'_Very impressive…'_ he thought as he saw an eye which started to form from sand appeared on Gaara's left hand.

He was holding two of his fingers over his left eye.

'_The "Third Eye"….is opened!'_ Morino thought, as Gaara completed his technique.

Gaara might have stolen answers from Freya, but she was too sharp. He located someone in the middle of the room. He crushed his third eye which flew towards his target. The sand got into the target's eye as the third eye floated past.

'_Something's got into my eye'_ Gaara's target started rubbing his eyes. While he was rubbing his eyes, Gaara hurriedly used his third eye to read the ninja's answers.

"Owww….." the ninja moaned. A chuunin noticed the ninja's strange behavior.

"Excuse me," Kankuro suddenly stood up, with his hand raised.

"What?" a chuunin with a scar slashing downwards under each eye asked.

"Bathroom," Kankuro answered.

"Okay, but we'll have to follow you."

"I see…" Kankuro muttered. The chuunin cuffed Kankuro with a pair of cuffs and tied a string on to them. Gaara looked at his brother.

* * *

(In the toilet)

"The testing officials aren't that impressive…" Kankuro said to himself.

"They didn't even notice an extra chuunin, did they Karasu?" Kankuro told the chuunin who was really a puppet, laughing. The chuunin's face started to crack and it appeared lifeless.

* * *

(Back in the room)

'_Right, we have gotten rid of the bad ones….time for the tenth question…'_ Morino thought.

'_It's about time…._' Naruto looked at the clock on the wall.

"Okay, here's the tenth question…." Morino started, getting up.

'_Here it comes!'_ Naruto was drenched again in cold sweat.

"Okay, now we begin the tenth question!" Morino announced once again.

'_This is my only chance…._' Naruto clenched his fists tightly.

'_Tch….about time too' _Sasuke thought. He had gotten tired of waiting.

Sakura had now returned to her normal self. _'This is the final mountain…._'

'_Kankuro, hurry up and come back, we can't do it without you…'_ Temari prayed.

'_You were supposed to give me the answers before the tenth question!'_

"Now, before we get to the next question, I would like to go over this new rule that I have added for this question..." Morino started.

The room started to tense. The door opened and Kankuro walked in with the chuunin who had brought him out earlier.

"Heh, just in time too… At least your puppet act didn't have to go to waste," Morino commented, smirking.

_'Tch…So he noticed Karasu…._' Kankuro walked past Temari's seat and dropped a small scroll onto her table.

Temari put her hand over the scroll and Kankuro just continued walking to his seat as if nothing had happened.

"Now I'll explain the rules of desperation," Morino said.

"First, you must choose whether you decide to take it or not..." Morino said.

"Choose? What happens when we choose not to take it?" Temari demanded.

"Your points will be reduced to zero and you will fail along with your teammates," Morino answered.

"Of course we will take it if that's the case!" a random ninja shouted.

"Now the next rule is this: If you choose to take it and answer it incorrectly, you will lose the right to take this exam…._.forever_," Morino told them gravely.

"What kind of stupid rule is that? There are guys here who have taken the exam before and have not lost the right to take the exam!" Kiba shouted.

"Hehehehe…..you guys were unlucky because this year, it's my rules," Morino said, smirking.

"Those that aren't confident can choose to not take it and then try again next year."

"If one of your teammates chooses not to take it, the rest of the team will fail along with that teammate," he added.

"Now… let's begin the tenth question!" Morino shouted.

"Those who do not wish to take it, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, _**leave**_." Morino said, emphasizing the word leave.

'_What kind of question is the tenth question? If I get it wrong, I'll be an eternal genin…… No way!! But if I choose not to take it…..Sasuke and Sakura-chan will fail too! I don't want that either…..'_ Naruto thought desperately.

'_I won't raise my hand because I'm confident that I'll get it right. But Naruto…..even if you make us fail, it's not like I'll get the question wrong, so I can take the exam again next time. But…..but Naruto, you should forget about Sasuke and me and think about the next chance'_ Sakura thought, looking at Naruto.

A random Konoha ninja raised his hand. "I….I won't take it! ...I'm sorry, Gennai, Inoho…….." he stuttered.

"No.50 fails! No.111 and No.130 also fail!" a chuunin said.

_"Me too!"_

_"I won't take it too!"_

_"Sorry guys, I don't wanna lose my rights…"_

One by one, ninjas raised their hands.

Naruto was trembling.

'_Naruto, why aren't you raising your hand?' _Sakura thought furiously.

'_Always acting like a fool who only devotes his life to being Hokage…..I'm sorry Naruto….that impossible dream of yours…..I don't want to see it crushed…'_ Sakura thought, smiling sheepishly raising her hand a little.

'_Huh?'_ Sakura was taken by surprise. As she was about to raise her hand fully, Naruto had already raised his.

Naruto was trembling with his hand raised.

'_Na…Naruto!'_ Sakura thought with a shocked expression.

Naruto's friends were also shocked. Suddenly, Naruto brought his hand down onto the table, making a loud banging noise.

"Darn you! Don't underestimate me! I will not run!! I'll take it! Even if I remain genin forever, I'll definitely find a way to become Hokage anyway! So I don't care! I'm not afraid!" Naruto shouted. He sat back on his chair folding his arms.

'_He wasn't thinking about us at all! What guts…..'_ Sasuke was amused at his friend's sudden outburst.

'_Yea, I guess you'll always be that kind of idiot…'_Sakura silted affectionately.

"I'll ask you again, your life as a ninja will be in the hands of this question. Do you wish to take it or not? This is your last chance to quit," Morino looked at all the remaining genins.

"I never go back on my words……I follow what I decide. That is my 'Way of the Ninja'," Naruto said, smirking cheekily at Morino.

After hearing and encouraged by what Naruto said, no one else raised their hands.

'_Interesting kid…. he blew away everyone's doubts and worries. 78 people left……hmm…..more than I expected,'_ Morino thought.

'_Stretching this any longer will make no difference….'_

Morino looked at the chuunins that were seated along the walls. They nodded their approval at him.

"Good decisions….now to everyone remaining here……I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart in passing the first test," Morino announced.

'_What!?!'_ Naruto looked at him bewilderedly.

"What do you mean we already pass? What about the tenth question?" Sakura asked, a surprised look on her face.

"To begin with, there never was such a thing. Or you could say the question with the two choices was the ninth and tenth question!" Morino told them, with a cheeky grin.

"Then what were the other nine questions for then? They were pointless!"Temari demanded.

"They were not pointless, they have already accomplished their sole purpose," Morino answered.

"Huh?"

"They were questions to test your information gathering abilities."

'_He suddenly changed personalities…'_ Temari thought.

"Information gathering?" she asked.

"Firstly, the rules explained that the key to the succession on this test is the whole team doing well. This puts pressure on each member to not mess things up for their comrades," Morino explained.

"I had a feeling it was always like this," Naruto said, nodding wisely with his arms crossed.

'_Liar…'_ Sakura thought.

Hinata giggled.

"But the questions are of standard that a mere genin cannot answer of course unless you're a genius. Because of that, I'm sure many people have come to this conclusion……._I have to cheat_," Morino continued.

"So, basically the purpose of this test was to encourage cheating," Sasuke concluded.

"As cheating targets you guys had two or so chuunins to help us out," he added with an air of knowledge.

'_Huh? I had no idea! Whatever…. Pretend you knew…'_ Naruto nodded.

"Man it was sure tough to find the right guy," a random ninja said.

"Yeah," another agreed. Naruto dulled at the thought of the other ninjas knowing about it except him.

"Hahaha I saw right through that! You'd have to be a moron not to notice!" Naruto bluffed.

'_He didn't notice it!'_ Sasuke thought, sweat dropping.

"But, those who cheat poorly fail, of course…" Morino said, fumbling with his forehead protector.

Rouryuu already knew what was coming. He had seen Morino without his protector before. That was when they were taking a trip to the hot springs together.

_'Bastard….don't take it off!' _Rouryuu clenched his fists.

When it finally came off, Morino said, "Because, at times, information is more precious than life and on missions and the battlefield, people will risk their lives to get their hands on it."

There were screw holes, scars and burns on his bald head.

'_Those are aftermaths of torture'_ Sasuke thought, horrified at the sight of the special jounin's head.

Everyone else were also horrified.

Freya had gone pale at the sight of Morino's scars. She stood her ground and stood strong. _'Must… not... be intimidated by him…'_

"If the enemy notices you, there will be no guarantee the information will be accurate. I want you all to remember this, the information that you gather can be a very powerful weapon for your comrades and village. So we had you to cheat to gather information. This clearly separated the ones without the right abilities." Morino told them.

Noticing that his little sister had gone pale, Rouryuu hurriedly raised his hand.

"Yes?" Morino asked, pointing at Rouryuu.

"Umm….excuse me Morino, but would you but your protector back on? I don't think it is suitable for under aged ninjas to look at it," he said, referring to his sister.

"Oh yes, of course Li-sama," Morino said with respect, putting his protector back on.

Although the present day villagers and younger generations did not know much about the Li clan or it's background, the Li clan was a much respected clan in Konoha. From the shadows, the Li Clan had helped Konoha for many generations. Many were surprised at how Morino talked to Rouryuu. At once, there was a lot of whispering in the room.

'_Sama?'_ Gaara thought. He looked over at Freya.

Freya was staring right ahead of her.

'_What clan are these siblings from?!'_ Neji thought, looking at Rouryuu.

Freya heaved a sigh of relief when Morino had put his protector back on.

'_Thank you, Rouryuu…' _Freya thought.

"I still don't understand the tenth question," Temari said.

Morino just grinned. "To be honest, the tenth question is the true purpose of this test."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Let me explain… To take or not to take are greatly painful decisions to take. Those who chose the 'not to take' decision will fail along with their comrades. Those who choose to take it could lose the chance to take it ever again. In other words, this is to test your faith and trust. For example, say, you guys become chuunins and are assigned a secret mission. The number of enemies, their abilities and etc are unknown. Of course there will be traps. Do you accept the mission or not? Because you want to avoid death you don't want your comrades to get hurt, can you decline dangerous missions? The answer is no. No matter how dangerous, you can't avoid these missions. The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship, these are the abilities needed to become a chuunin!" Morino said.

"Those who can't put their lives and destinies on the line, those who cling on to the uncertain future of 'there's always next year', those cowards who can only make such cowardly choices don't have the right to become chuunins, those who have absolute zero trust and faith in their comrades, have no right to become chuunins! That's how I feel. Those who chose to take it answered the tenth question correctly. You will be able to survive anything in future."

"You have passed the first test of the chuunin selection exam… the exam is now over. I wish you guys good luck!" Morino said, smiling.

"Heck yea, wish us luck!" Naruto exclaimed with a cheerful expression.

'_Heh, interesting kid'_ Morino thought, looking at Naruto.

'_What?'_ Morino's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he noticed a presence nearing the room.

Something, or rather someone, crashed into the room from the window. Two hands, holding kunais emerged from the sheet it was carrying. The hands threw the kunais and were stuck on the ceiling and the floor. Everyone wore surprised looks on their faces.

'_Geez, not this one…'_ Morino thought, smirking to himself.

* * *

Author: Hope the rewrite was okay....

-MCB


	6. Chapter 6

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon! I only own two characters here and the only ccs characters I'm using is Li Syaoran & his sisters & his mother! (Also it contains some spoilers for some Naruto episodes!)

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 6

A woman emerged from the sheet and exclaimed enthusiastically, "I'm your second examiner, Mitarashi Anko! Now Let's go! Follow Me!"

There was a pregnant silence. Sakura put on an annoyed expression and thought _'This examiner's so Narutoish!'_

Anko blushed and Morino whispered amusedly to her, "Bad timing."

Anko ignored what the older ninja said and counted the heads of the successful genins.

"78? Ibiki? You left 26 teams? The test was too easy this time!" Anko snapped.

"This time, there are a lot of outstanding ones," Morino said with a carefree expression.

"Hmph, that's fine, I'll cut them into half during the second test," Anko said sinisterly_._

'_Cut us in half?!'_ Sakura thought worriedly.

"Ahaha, I'm starting too get excited ! I'll explain everything once we've changed places, follow me!" Anko said with a weird expression on her face.

At practice arena 44

"Welcome to the second test's destination, practice arena 44, also known as the '_Forest Of Death'_ ," Anko said it with such intensity that most of the genins felt their knees shaking.

'_Hmm, I seem to know this place..'_ Freya thought hard.

Rouryuu looked over to his younger sister and at his brother. Both of them didn't seem to be scared or whatsoever. Rouryuu looked into the forest and something seemed to trigger in his mind. The same happened to his other two siblings.

"This is creepy.."Sakura whimpered.

Naruto, putting up a brave front, peered into the forest. Most of the genins were talking among themselves.

Anko smirked and told them, "You'll soon know why it's called the forest of death, although some of you may already know…."

" You think that SCARES me?? That's nothing! I'm not afraid!!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the deadly examiner.

"Yea , you're spirited alright….." Anko said with a freaky expression on her face.

She suddenly pulled out a sharpened kunai. Naruto had shocked expression, Anko had her arms around him, licking a cut on his face. A cut caused by Anko's deadly kunai.

"Yea, kids like you can easily die…" Anko whispered into his ear.

The Li siblings sweat dropped.

"I think Anko-nee chan's over doing it," Freya whispered to her brothers.

"Yea…" the two brothers whispered back.

They remembered the time when Anko had came over to their house when one of their cousin from another village came to visit and scared him. Anko looked behind her and a genin from the Grass Village extended his tongue and presented Anko with the kunai she had dropped.

"Here's your kunai," he said tilting his straw hat.

"Why thank you," Anko said with a peaceful expression on her face.

"You know, don't sneak up behind me…. Unless you want to …..die…" Anko said, grabbing her kunai from the genin's tongue.

"I couldn't help it……I get excited whenever I see blood…plus you cut my precious hair," the genin apologized.

"Naruto…." Hinata whispered weakly.

'_What's with this examiner? ….this is bad,'_ Sakura thought, obviously frightened.

'_Why's that guy's tongue so long?_' Naruto thought.

"Seems like we have a lot of blood thirsty ones in this test, this should be fun…" Anko said.

'_You're the blood thirsty one..'_ Naruto thought, rubbing his cut.

"Before we start the test, I want to give out something," Anko said, taking a stack of papers from her coat pocket.

"What's that for?" a random genin asked.

"This is an agreement form, you must sign 'em. There will be deaths in this test and if you don't sign 'em, it will be my responsibility. Hehe….." Anko said cheerfully.

Most of the genins sweat dropped.

"I'll explain the rules the you can sign these papers. And then each team will check in at the both behind me," Anko said, pointing at the booth behind her.

"To simply put it, this test is about survival…….."

'_Survival, this test sucks man…'_ Shikamaru thought, passing another genin the stack of papers.

After explaining about the map of the forest, Anko took out two scrolls.

" You genins will have to fight over these 2 scrolls. There are 26 teams , meaning half thirteen, will get the heaven scroll, the others will get the earth. To pass this test, you have to reach the tower with both the scrolls, meaning you will have to fight each other for them. So meaning, half the teams will lose their scrolls, 13 teams will definitely fail." Anko said.

"There's a time limit, the second test will last for 120 hours, which means exactly 5 days. If you do not have any difficulty passing through the forest, you could get there, most probably by the speed of light, a few minutes," Anko said, smirking.

"Five Days?? What about dinner?" Chouji exclaimed.

"It's survival, anyway, the forest's full of food…..oh yea, plus a few man eating beasts, poisonous bugs and plants….you're on your own.." Anko said, as if the genins were going on a holiday to the Caribbean islands.

"And you will not get much rest as the days go by as there will be many enemies lurking about. As the days go by, time will get shorter so, I advise you kids to not waste any time," Anko advised.

"This is going to be **so** fun," a random ninja said sarcastically.

"Oh and one more thing……some of you will not survive by the harshness of this course and here are the rules that can disqualify you," Anko started.

"First, if you do not reach the tower within the time limit , Second, those who lose a teammate or their teammate got killed , third, no quitting in the middle of the exam and the last rule, you must not open to see what's inside of these scrolls until you reach the tower…"

"What will happen if we do?" Naruto asked, gulping.

"Ah……that will be a surprise for anyone who does that…."Anko said putting her index finger on her lips.

"A chuunin would be asked to handle classified information on missions. This also tests your trustworthiness," Anko explained.

"Now, go to the booth one at a time and exchange your team's signed forms and you will get a scroll, then choose your gate to get ready for the start," Anko instructed.

"And one more word of advice…_Don't Die……_" Anko said.

Everyone had a serious expression of each of their faces. Gaara glanced at Freya. Freya caught Gaara staring at her and Gaara quickly turned away. Freya smiled to herself and went to catch up with her older brothers. What could be worse? Freya had faced situations worse than this. Freya felt her heart skipping a beat.

A picture suddenly flashed through her mind, it also had happened when she and her siblings were looking into the forest. The picture was slightly fuzzy, it had a shadow of a little girl sobbing while some people took her away from some other people. Freya's head pulsed when she strained herself to figure out something about the picture.

"Freya….Freya!" Syaoran called to his sister who had a faraway look in her eyes.

Freya snapped back into reality. "Sorry…" Freya said sheepishly, handing her brother the form.

"Is something wrong?" Syaoran asked concerned.

Freya smiled brightly and said " Nothing's wrong Syao-nii, just a little excited, that's all…."

At the Hokage's Office

"It's happening already, especially to the youngest one.." an old voice said.

"Well, you really can't fight magic, after all, they're bound to remember someway or another…" a masked ANBU reasoned.

"I guess you're right, you really can't keep any secrets from such powerful minds….it's just that I really had wanted them to forget everything………everything that has happened to them before…..they should just have a happy life," the Third sighed.

The ANBU woman put a comforting hand on his shoulder "Don't worry, things might change, one way or another…." She said.

Back at the practice arena 44

'_I see….. everyone is an enemy.._'

"Sasuke-kun!" a melodious voice rang out, calling his name.

It was Freya. '_But, how can I treat this person as an enemy?'_ Sasuke was doubtful.

Freya had helped him countless of times, just like she did with everyone else. Yes, she was an innocent girl. She had even offered to help his perverted jounin bring his copy of 'Icha-icha Paradise' to an autograph session by the author when his mission was scheduled on the day of the event.

"Good luck to your team Sasuke-kun!" Freya said cheerfully.

Sasuke blushed, her kindness was really overwhelming.

"Uh, you too…" Sasuke mumbled. That's it, Sasuke made a decision. He decided that no matter what, he would try to avoid clashing with the Li siblings. He stood up and went with his team. Freya skipped over to her brothers. Along the way to catch up with her brothers, Freya accidentally bumped into someone.

It was none other than our famous Sabaku no Gaara. "Hello Sabaku-san!" Freya said.

Before he caught himself in time, he had returned Freya's greeting. Freya smiled to herself. "Good luck Sabaku-san!" Freya said again.

Gaara winced. "Uh…..you…..too…and. call…me…Gaara..." Gaara said.

He looked down when he caught himself blushing.

"Okay, then I'll call you Gaara-chan!" Freya said brightly.

"Goodbye Gaara-chan!" Freya said as she went off. Her bell twinkled in the strong sunlight. Gaara quickly looked up. It was too late, as fast as the speed of light, Freya had disappeared. Whatever the young girl was wearing, he had lost a chance to see it. But as she had left Gaara had heard something too.

The tinkling sound of a bell.

"Freya!" Syaoran shouted to his sister, waving.

"We're here!" His younger sibling pounced on him playfully.

"Where were you?" Rouryuu questioned. His brother had told him about Freya.

"I was just wishing good luck to Sasuke-kun and Gaara-chan good luck!" Freya said enthusiastically. Her brothers smiled fondly at their sister.

Under that smile, the brothers were thinking the same thing, '_What in heavens name…__**Gaara-chan**__?'_

She never knew how to treat her friends as enemies.

They waited for the time for the exam to begin. After the long hand of the clock struck the number six, all the genins were off. The Li siblings either jumped from tree to tree or flew. They had a flying technique which was strictly secret to everyone, even the Hokage. A giant millipede stomped down in front of them blocking the entire path.

"It's…… so cute!" Freya exclaimed.

The brothers sweat dropped. There was no way Freya would let them harm the bug.

"Freya…" Syaoran said. Freya was making fast friends with the millipede and she was even petting the deadly creature.

"We have to get going.." Rouryuu said amused.

"Right..." Freya said.

She started talking to the millipede in some sort of gibberish language. The millipede stood out of their way and let them pass. The siblings proceeded along.

"I sense some ninjas approaching," Rouryuu said.

He looked at Freya and she nodded at him. She activated her cat form. Her green eyes looked into the ninja carrying the scroll it was the scroll earth. They had heaven. She deactivated her cat form and the siblings discussed how to get the scroll without hurting the ninjas. Finally, as the ninjas were approaching, they had a plan.

Freya transformed into a helpless injured cat while Rouryuu transformed into a big dog . The ninjas approached when Freya shot out from the bushes with Rouryuu close behind her tail. Freya ran towards the ninjas. They were from the Mist Village.

"Do something to save that poor cat!" the girl of the group said.

Without thinking , one of the boys threw their scroll at Rouryuu. Rouryuu pretended to stumble and fall. He fell over the scroll. Meanwhile, Freya had pretended to collapse. The Mist ninjas tended to her. Syaoran crept up to Rouryuu and carried him and put the scroll in his pouch. He hid in one of the tall trees.

After wounding bandages around Freya, the ninjas, obviously animal lovers, petted Freya and continued walking, obviously forgetting about their scroll. After the mist ninjas were out of sight, Freya changed back and unwound the bandages. The plan was a success. She was glad that there were also some fellow animal lovers. Syaoran and Rouryuu, who had transformed back came down from the tree grinning. Syaoran handed the scrolls to his sister who put them in her pouch.

"Let's go," Rouryuu told his brother and sister.

They had acquired the scroll in the first 15 minutes. The siblings proceeded to the tower. After a few rest stops, the siblings reached the tower in 1 hour. They walked in through the door. They were greeted with a poster in front of them pinned on to the wall. They quickly figured out what was written on the poster and opened the scrolls. A chunnin appeared in front of them.

The ninja congratulated them and the asked, "By the way, what time is it?"

Rouryuu said , "4:45…."

The chuunin exclaimed, "WHAT?!" then he professionally coughed and said, "Excuse me but I have business to attend to you can proceed into the hall and rest."

The siblings nodded and went into the hall.

"Hokage! Hokage!" the chuunin yelled, coming into the control room. Anko was there with him.

"Your students…….have completed the second test!" the chunnin said, out of breath.

"What?!" Anko exclaimed. She switched the monitor of the security cameras on. Sure enough, the siblings were sitting on a bench talking to each other.

"This is impossible! It's so abnormal! They finished the test in 75 minutes!" Anko said, her face turning as pale as Neji's.

She looked towards the Hokage to see what was his reaction. His face was calm.

'_These kids must be better than I thought…'_ Anko thought.

She had underestimated the skills of the Li siblings. Seventeen minutes later, another group came in. It was the Sand siblings this time. All the same, the chuunin who received the siblings came rushing into the room. Although Anko had already faced the even earlier arrival of the Li siblings, she could not help but feel weirded out.

The Sand siblings proceeded to the hall, thinking that they were the first ones to arrive. Surprisingly, they saw some people had gotten there before them. The Li siblings.

"What are you doing here?" Kankuro said, sounding a little baffled.

"Uh….isn't it obvious? Breathing, existing, sitting, talking and etc for the last seventeen minutes ," Rouryuu said seriously.

His siblings tried to suppress giggles.

"What?!" Kankuro said angrily.

"Calm down, it's obvious they got here earlier than we did…" Gaara said emotionlessly.

He stole a glance at Freya. She looked at him and waved a little. Gaara blushed immediately. Realizing that he was blushing, he quickly shook his head and put on a stoic expression.

"When did you get here?" Temari asked Rouryuu.

"Uh…17 minutes ago.." Rouryuu answered.

'_What?!'_ Gaara thought.

"What?!" Temari and Kankuro exclaimed, obviously not suppressing their shock.

Before Rouryuu could say anything, the Hokage came in. "Well done in passing the second test. I must say, I'm very impressed. You young ninjas will stay in this tower for 5 days as you have arrived earlier than any of the other ninjas. So try not to kill each other," the Third said, referring to Kankuro and Rouryuu.

Author: Sorry for the late update! Just got a little discouraged …I know this chapter's not that good so…..hope that you guys can review before I start the next one.. Cya!


	7. Chapter 7

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon! I only own two characters here and the only ccs characters I'm using is Li Syaoran & his sisters & his mother! (Also it contains some spoilers for some Naruto episodes!)

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 7

6.00 a.m in the morning

Freya woke up to the sound of the rustling forest. She looked around the big, dark room and immediately remembered where she was. She got up and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and take a shower.

As Freya stepped out of the shower, she dried her face and body and changed into her clothes. She headed into her temporary bedroom. There, she found her brothers sitting on her bed and playing cards which they had found somewhere and polishing their shurikens and kunais at the same time.

"Good Morning," Freya greeted to her older brothers.

"Good morning to you too," the brothers replied in unison.

"The Hokage said that if we wanted breakfast, we would have to cook it ourselves," Syaoran informed his younger sister.

"What our dear brother really means is, we're waiting for you to cook," Rouryuu said. The siblings stared at each other for a moment and suddenly burst out laughing.

"All right, I'll cook the breakfast but you will have to set the table," Freya said, after the siblings recovered from their laughter.

The brothers got up to leave and Freya went and sat in front of the dressing table that was conveniently in the room.

She starts brushing her hair and tying it up into a loose ponytail with a short, purple sash. Not forgetting that there were also others ignorant about their identity, Freya put on her white cat mask before heading down into the kitchen. When Freya reached the kitchen, she found Temari there, busy making breakfast too.

As quietly as possible, Freya got out the utensils and ingredients and started making breakfast for her and her brothers. Temari turned away from the mess of food in front of her.

"I don't know why must it be _me_ to make breakfast," Temari grumbled to herself.

She caught sight of Freya busy at the other stove making her own breakfast.

' _It seems easy for that shorty to cook,' _Temari thought. She watched Freya easily making breakfast. As Freya finished putting the final touches to the food, she felt someone watching her.

She turned around and saw Temari. Temari saw that Freya had stopped making breakfast and was looking at her, well, she could say that as Freya's head was turned at her direction (A/N: She's wearing a mask remember?) . Freya saw the mess of food at Temari's preparation table.

"Err…Do you need help making breakfast?" Freya asked politely.

Temari was taken aback at her offer. " Aren't we supposed to be enemies?" Temari asked suspiciously.

Freya blinked several times before answering, " Really? I thought we were at least friends?"

Temari looked at Freya and surveyed her, although she couldn't see Freya's face, Freya's voice showed that she was really keen on being friends. " Umm, well, I will accept your offer, thank you," Temari said.

"Well, what were you going to make for breakfast?" Freya asked questioningly.

"Ummm…egg rice," Temari replied simply.

Freya saw that Temari had tried whisking raw eggs into rice. Freya sweat-dropped at this. "Uhh…hahaha…" Freya said lamely.

" Is it really that bad? I thought it was made like that?" Temari said, looking over Freya's head.

" Umm, no you're supposed to do it like this……" Freya said. The two girls went busy into making breakfast for Temari's group.

Meanwhile with Freya's brothers

" I feel bad dumping Freya to make our breakfast…" Syaoran said.

" I wonder how many times she's made breakfast for you and you didn't say that….oh, and including lunch and dinner?" Rouryuu questioned.

Syaoran sweat-dropped at this. "I guess you're right," Syaoran said.

"Wanna sword spar?" Syaoran asked, changing the subject.

"Yea, sure," Rouryuu said. The brothers headed down to the battle hall.

Battle hall

Syaoran took out his well-polished ancient sword. Rouryuu summoned a sword from his scroll too. The brothers positioned themselves at a distance and Syaoran lunged forwards at his older brother. Rouryuu drew up his sword and both the brother's swords clashed, making a loud sound.

At a secluded corner, Gaara and Kankuro heard the clashing of swords in the battle hall. Curious, Gaara stood up and made his way to the battle hall. Upon arriving, he saw the Li brothers sword fighting.

"Oh, it's those people…" Kankuro said.

Slightly interested, Gaara ascended the stairs that led up to the balconies above the ground floor to have a better view of the brothers' mock fight. He watched Rouryuu's fighting moves intently. As the minutes passed by, Gaara finally gave up watching the older of the two brothers. His technique was too difficult to understand.

Determined to find his weakness at least, Gaara decided to watch him for a few minutes longer. Suddenly, he realized something.

"You can see that they know we're here and don't want to show anything," Kankuro commented.

Gaara nodded and replied, "Yes, thus making their battle style messed up…"

"But you can see that they are not doing their best," Kankuro said.

"Of course I can see that…" Gaara replied emotionlessly.

(With the Li brothers)

"Hey Syao, don't stop or look anywhere, just keep fighting. You notice those Sunagakure genins right?" Rouryuu whispered, not stopping.

"Aa…" Syaoran agreed.

"Don't give anything away or show our weakness. Just keep fighting. In the count of 5, aim a hard-looking blow at my sword but don't kill my sword and I'll pretend to drop and surrender," Syaoran whispered.

"Sure, I was getting hungry anyway. And I feel so harassed and stalked when they're watching us intently," Rouryuu said, pretending to shudder.

Syaoran just sweat-dropped. "Okay…5…4…3…2…1!"

Rouryuu aimed a hard-looking blow at his younger brother's sword and put on an expression which shows that he used a lot of strength. Syaoran immediately let go of his sword but threw it in the wrong direction. Instead of the right side where Rouryuu had pretended to aim the blow, he had thrown it to the left side.

"Idiot!" Rouryuu said, picking up his brother's sword for him. "Sorry, but I don't think they'd notice," Syaoran said looking embarrassed.

"Right…"

Both the brothers went back to their starting positions and formally bowed to each other. After bowing, the exited the hall and headed towards the kitchen. Seeing that the Li brothers had already left and finished their fight, Gaara and Kankuro decided to get their breakfast from Temari.

(In the kitchen)

"And that's how you cook egg rice," Freya said, setting down the last plate of egg rice down onto the table. "I must admit, it was really easy," Temari said with a surprised look on her face.

"Well, cooking's not that hard if you practice a lot…" Freya said.

"Let's eat?" Temari asked.

"Sure, but I'll eat my own one. I'm sure your brothers won't enjoy anyone else eating their breakfast that their beloved sister prepared for them," Freya said, taking a seat at another table that was in the kitchen.

"You're right. But I'll laugh and scorn at the word 'beloved'," Temari agreed.

"I'm sure your brothers appreciate you," Freya said laughing.

"Nope, though I'm the oldest, I have to do everything," Temari said matter-of-factly.

"Well, you're pretty sufficient. No doubt, you'd make a good leader," Freya said with a small smile.

"Thanks…" Temari said, slightly surprised.

'_Those two brothers of hers sure are lucky to have such a sister,'_ Temari thought, turning away.

Both girls sat at their respective tables, waiting for their respective brothers.

'_Syao-nii…breakfast is done…'_ Freya mentally thought to Syaoran.

"I know…" Syaoran said, coming into the kitchen. Rouryuu followed suit right behind his brother.

"Yo, Freya," he said, putting up his hand. Syaoran set down his sword and Rouryuu, his scroll.

"Food looks great, thanks Freya!" Rouryuu said.

'_And her brothers' appreciativeness are very good,'_ Temari thought, while thinking about her unappreciative brothers.

"Yea, he almost killed me trying to get the practice done so he could eat," Syaoran joked.

"Yup," Rouryuu said. "Killed."

As the siblings' table was faced away from the other group, they took off their masks and started eating. Temari watched them in silence, suppressing the urge to go over and take a look at their true identities.

"Temari! Is the food done yet?" Kankuro asked, coming into the kitchen.

Temari ignored her brother's rudeness and replied, "Yes. Li from the other group there did most of it. I only contributed a few steps and watched her."

Kankuro choked on the food he was swallowing and said, "What?! You let an enemy cook breakfast for us? And which Li? They're all Lis."

"I used the term 'her' so obviously it's the girl. Are you deaf or what?" Temari retorted. Kankuro started talking on how Freya could've slipped poison into the food and Temari was saying what an unappreciative idiot Kankuro was.

'_Interesting…'_ Gaara thought.

He stared at the dish in front of him. Slowly, he took the spoon and ate his breakfast. Waiting for their brother's reaction of an enemy cooking breakfast for them, Kankuro almost forgot to breathe.

"Well?" Kankuro asked, exasperated.

"Well what?" Gaara asked coldly.

"We should thank her if you ask me," Temari said, chewing on her mouthful of rice.

"I have to admit, it's good…" Kankuro said.

"And if you're so against it, why not cook your own?" Gaara asked coolly. Kankuro just glared at his brother and the Sand siblings continued to eat in silence.

(At the Li siblings' table)

"Why are they arguing?" Syaoran questioned quietly. They could hear the Sand siblings arguing.

"It might be because I sort of cooked breakfast for them…" Freya answered guiltily. She felt guilty that Temari might be blamed.

"Well, although I feel that you shouldn't cook for them, it's not your fault. We are, after all, supposed to be cooperating…" Rouryuu said.

"True enough," Syaoran said, nodding his head.

Freya smiled and cheered up again. She was glad to have brothers as great as them. After they finished eating, they put on their masks and got up to wash their dishes. After washing their dishes, they proceeded to leave the room.

As Freya was about to leave the room, Temari called out to her, "Wait!"Freya turned around and saw all the Sabaku Siblings looking at her.

"Yes?" she asked politely, wondering what they wanted from her.

"Umm…I just wanted to thank you for teaching me how to cook this dish here and thanks for doing most of the breakfast," Temari said.

"And me and my brother thank you too," Kankuro followed quickly. Freya turned to look at Gaara and he just nodded at her.

"Sure, no problem…" Freya said and she left.

"That was easy…" Kankuro said.

"Of course, saying 'thank you' is not so bad," Temari snapped.

The days at the tower passed by quickly. Soon the other ninjas came.

"Congratulations all of you," the Sandaime addressed all of them.

"But, unfortunately, we cannot proceed to the next round as there are too many people. There were sounds of protests at this.

Putting his hand up to silence them, he continued, "But, to eliminate the number of candidates, we will be having a preliminary round right away."

"Are you crazy?" Sakura shouted.

"Most of us are injured and exhausted from our journey here!"

"Yea! We should be given a chance to rest!" a random ninja agreed.

"Ahh, but I'm sorry. Rules are rules. You can either just bear with it or just drop out," the Sandaime said, stroking his beard.

"This time, if a member of a team drops out, it would not affect his friends. Starting at this point, its not team work anymore. It's individual," he explained.

At that, all the genins went quiet.

"All those who want to quit raise your hands," he said. A few raised their hands with disappointed faces.

"What?!" Sakura exclaimed.

Freya looked up to see the direction where Sakura was looking. Apparently, Kabuto had raised his hand. "But, why? I think you could make it to the next round…" Sakura asked.

"I'm too tired and exhausted. Better to rest than to risk," he said, shrugging his shoulders. Freya took note that Sasuke wasn't feeling well and she was worried for him. Better ask him later.

After all the ninjas that wanted to drop out had exited the hall, the Hokage spoke up, "Good, now let's proceed to the preliminaries."

Author's note: Was it too short? (as usual) If so, I'm soooo sorry! I know I suck at writing. But I hope I can improve! Please read my CCS fanfic The Melody of Love. It doesn't suck as much as I think this does.


	8. Chapter 8

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon! I only own some of the characters here and the only ccs characters I'm using is Li Syaoran & his sisters & his mother! (Also it contains some spoilers for some Naruto episodes!)

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 8

Last chapter: After all the ninjas that wanted to drop out had exited the hall, the Hokage spoke up, "Good, now let's proceed to the preliminaries."

The Fighting Hall

A few round of fights had finished and it was now Syaoran's turn. He held his breath as he saw who he was going to fight. He was going to fight a ninja from the mist village. The ninja was a big sized and had a mask covering his entire face except his eyes. Compared to him, Syaoran looked like a midget. Syaoran pulled on his mask a little tighter, handed his brother his pouch containing his Pokemon and jumped down to the floor, ready to fight.

His opponent was already there and waiting. Their judge went in between of the two genins. Syaoran held the shaft of his sword, ready to fight. After a few wheezes of cough, the judge put down his hand and the fight began. Syaoran jumped away as the ninja threw a flurry of shurikens at his direction. He took out an ofuda and muttered, "Savage wind, come forth!"

A blast of wind erupted from his weapon and hit his opponent. The wind flung his opponent backwards and hit the wall behind him. Determined, the mist ninja got up and charged at Syaoran.

As Freya and her other brother watched, they could not help but feel excited for their own turn. Wincing, Rouryuu realized that his brother had used magic. Gaara watched interested. He had not seen the younger Li brother using any techniques so far. As Syaoran had said his summon, Gaara could not help but feel as if Syaoran was not using an ordinary ninjutsus. And he was right.

Syaoran jumped upwards as his burly opponent rushed at him. His opponent caught him off guard and rushed upwards at him. Syaoran was hit in his mid air jump and landed on the ground. His opponent was ready to finish him off by crushing him with a body slam.

Gaara looked at Freya and her brother at the opposite direction to see what they would do since their brother was going to be finished. Surprisingly, they stood calmly and watched the fight. Syaoran waited for the ninja to almost reach him when he delivered a powerful kick to the ninja's gut and sent him flying in mid air.

Syaoran jumped up to follow him and when he was a few paces above his opponent, he held his hands together, straightened them and with his right palm, hit the middle of the ninja's back, thus sent him shooting straight into the ground. As the mist genin crashed into the ground, Syaoran landed lightly next to the hole that his opponent's landing had made.

There was a heavy and still silence as everyone watched and waited to see if the burly young lad will get up. After a few seconds had passed, the ninja in the ground made no sound or movement. The sickly judge went over and declared the winner, "Li Syaoran of Konoha has won this round!" Syaoran jumped back up to his siblings as the medic-nins came in to take the injured ninja away.

Rouryuu slapped his brother lightly on his back and congratulated him. Freya said congratulations before asking, "Why did he sleep?" Rouryuu looked at her and trailed his gaze onto his brother and raised an eyebrow at him.

With a grin, he replied, "I hit a nerve. That's why he slept."

"You used magic," Rouryuu said in a low whisper.

"Yea…but that wasn't the totally real thing, "Syaoran said, shrugging. His brother handed him his pouch and he strapped it back on. The siblings watch and waited to see who was going to fight next.

Gaara was slightly impressed by Syaoran's fight and was getting excited. He was thinking over the Konoha nin's fight when his brother's voice interrupted him. "I noticed that he wasn't trying his best…" Kankuro stated.

Temari nodded. "You can see that by the many open spaces he left," she said. They looked at their younger brother to see what he would say.

Gaara caught them staring at him and coldly said, "What?"

His siblings just looked away and he went back to his thoughts. Next, Naruto was going to fight with Kiba, a fellow ninja.

A few more rounds of fighting had passed when it was Rouryuu's turn to fight with a female nin from the rain village. He jumped down without handing his pouch of pokemon over to his siblings since they said animals were also allowed. With his scroll strapped onto his back, Rouryuu faced his opponent. As the judge signaled for the fighting to commence, his opponent rushed at him, holding two kunais at her side. Rouryuu put his hand on top of his scroll and conjured a sword.

He held out his sword in time to block the kunai. The female ninja jumped as Rouryuu lunged at her with his sword. "Not so gentlemanly are you?" she teased. Rouryuu ignored her and took a deep breath and disappeared. Shocked and surprised, the female nin looked around desperately for her opponent. A few seconds later, a blue and gray blur appeared behind her and struck her from the back.

Rouryuu had used a paralyzing technique on her and she could no longer move.

"Never let your guard down," Rouryuu breathed out.

The judge declared him the winner and the medic nins came in to take the rain ninja away. Rouryuu joined his siblings and together, they watched the continuing rounds. While they were watching, Freya felt a jolt pulse through her.

She looked around to see if there were any suspicious people watching her. Her sharp eyes noticed a shadow behind the Sabaku siblings and their jounin quickly dodging away. She stared intently at the area where the shadow was a few moments earlier. She restrained from using her Cat eyes. Gaara caught Freya staring intently in his direction and turned around to see what was there. Apparently there was nothing.

At the other side, Freya realized that Gaara had noticed her and averted her eyes back to the current match. _'I'll see what was there after the matches….'_ She thought to herself.

Soon, it was Freya's turn against a ninja from the Waterfall village. She pulled on her mask a little tighter, unstrapped her pouches from her waist and thigh and handed them over to Syaoran. She leaped down from the balcony where she was standing and readied herself to fight her opponent. Her opponent was a male ninja who wore a smirk on his face.

"Since you're the littlest fry in your family, you should be no problem," he told her.

"Please enlighten me with your great strength," Freya said politely, bowing at her opponent.

Syaoran and Rouryuu heard this and chuckled among themselves. Because they knew that Freya was definitely in a different league from them. The cocky young ninja impatiently asked the referee to let the match begin.

"Let me get this done and over with," he said impatiently.

"As you wish," the ninja said, coughing and putting his hand forward, signaling the start of the match.

The waterfall nin just stood there, smirking. "I'll give you the first move," he said.

"Thank….." Freya said, and disappeared.

The ninja thought to himself _'This is nothing, I know she's going to hit me from behind….' _and he turned around.

He waited for a few seconds but Freya did not appear.

The whole hall was silent as they waited for the young Li to appear. The waterfall nin was repeatedly looking backwards and forwards for Freya to appear.

"You….."Freya finished and appeared above and launched five kunais at her opponent. Instead of hitting her opponent, they hit the ground surrounding the ninja.

"Hah! You missed!" her opponent jeered.

Freya smiled to herself and said to him, "Oh my….I did….."

Freya stepped into the star-shaped ring that she had formed and her opponent ran towards her.

"Water blast jutsu!" he yelled. And water emitted from his palms.

Freya dodged the attack. The ninja launched the attack repeatedly and Freya dodged the attack and appeared at different locations of the ring. As a huge blast emitted from the now frantic waterfall nin's palms,

Freya jumped upwards and did a somersault in mid air and formed and 'o' with her fingers and said, "First Li secret, Water Dragon's shooting star!"

A huge blast of Water appeared from the 'o' of her fingers and seem to form a dome, connected by the kunais. The spectators watched, impressed. Freya's attack stopped and there was a line of water, connected by the kunais, forming a star shape out of water. She landed on the ground.

Her opponent smirked and said, "That was just a useless flashy move!"

As he was saying this, the water forming the star shape started moving rapidly. As the water current got faster, it formed a ball. The faster it got, the ball got bigger as well. Suddenly, the water ball, now very big, stopped behind Freya's opponent and sped towards him. Before he realized it, the water blast hit the ninja squarely in the back and threw him forwards. Freya jumped up, dodging away from the ninja.

"Thus, it earns its name," Freya said, referring to the attack.

She landed lightly beside her opponent who was now unconscious. The referee declared Freya the winner and Freya went back up to join her brothers.

"He sure enlightened you," Rouryuu said.

"Yea, with ignorance," Syaoran said, handing over Freya's pouch to her.

As she strapped it back on, Freya asked her brothers, "How many matches more?"

Syaoran replied, "Two or so I guess…"

"I see….tell the Hokage that I have to see to the Pokemon at home because I left enough food and water for them for five days," Freya said to her brothers.

"Sure, but didn't you put them in the Dragon Forest? (A/N: Please pretend it exists )" Rouryuu asked, referring to the Forest which was part of the Li territory that was used for housing the Pokemon.

Freya stiffened and said, "No, apparently, a group of younger Pokemon were attacked by something in the Forest a few days before the chuunin exams and I put a seal on it. If we have the time, I would like to rid of it."

"Oh. Well then, I'll tell the Hokage. Don't worry," Syaoran said.

"Be careful on your way out of here," Rouryuu warned.

Freya smiled to herself and said, "Okay, goodbye!"

She headed downwards, out of the hall as two ninjas were about to start fighting. No one noticed but the Hokage did. Freya noticed the Hokage looking questioningly at her. In reply, the young Li released her Pikachu and rubbed its belly and pointed at its mouth.

The Hokage nodded at her, indicating that she was free to go. In actual fact, Freya had also wanted to find out about the shadow herself. She headed towards the kitchen where she and Temari had shared some cooking lessons.

She wandered into the kitchen, and surveyed it. No, there was no one here. She walked around the Tower, avoiding the Hospital area and the audio room. She couldn't find anyone so she reluctantly left for her own home.

Freya stepped out of the Tower and stretched. It was good to have fresh air. She jumped up onto a tree and started out of the forest. As there were no obstacles, Freya quickly exited the forest. There were a few older ninjas at the entrance.

"Where you heading to?" a jounin asked.

"Home," Freya replied.

"Are the preliminary matches over?" he asked.

"Not sure yet," Freya replied patiently.

"Have you got permission? What's your name?" he asked again.

"I think I know her….white cat mask and all….." another ninja said. "Are you one of the Lis?"

Freya nodded slowly. Instantly, both ninjas bowed down to her and chorused, "You are free to go."

"Thank you very much," Freya said happily and headed towards the direction of the Li territory.

She entered the main gates and went into her house. Freya took off her mask and forehead protector. She wandered into the kitchen and a familiar pidgeot perched, sleeping on the table. Freya's fiery amber eyes widened in realization as she recognized the bird.

"Oka-san's pidgeot! Kaze!"

Freya's pikachu leaped off her shoulder and landed beside the sleeping pidgeot. It poked the pidgeot in its side and Kaze instantly woke up. It noticed Freya and wandered up to her and turned around, letting Freya see the pouch on its back.

"May I?" Freya asked Kaze, smiling.

The Pokemon nodded. Freya opened the pouch and took out an envelope addressed to her and her brothers.

'_Strange, usually letters are written to us separately…furthermore, we haven't sent a reply for the last letter and this isn't the pidgeot she normally uses_,' the young girl thought to herself. Kaze crooned loud noises at Freya.

She turned around and looked at Kaze, "Oh, haha… right. You want food and water am I right?" The Pokemon nodded at her. Freya set about, getting food for Kaze and preparing food for the other Pokemon while deep in thought.

'_Right! I'll just wait for Rouryuu-nii and Syaoran-nii to return then we'll open the letter,'_ she decided.

Freya placed food and water in front of Kaze. She released two machamps and with their help, carried the boxes of food into a large greenhouse. In there, there were a lot of other Pokemon. They chorused a greeting as Freya, the machamps and pikachu came into the greenhouse.

"Right! Time to eat guys!" Freya announced.

With some help, she set all the food in different bowls for the different types of Pokemon. After giving them food, Freya left her other Pokemon in there and went back into the house. She went up the stairs to change out of her ninja clothes. After changing, she went down to the kitchen to see what she was going to be making for dinner. Freya decided to go out to the village to buy some groceries. With grocery bag in hand, she called to the Pokemon to tell them she was going out. She wrote a note to her brothers and set it on the dining room table and went out of the house.

As Freya reached the main gates of the Li territory, she saw someone familiar at the gates. She ducked behind the wall and breathed to herself, "Gaara-chan…"

'_What is he doing here?'_ She peeked from behind the wall and saw that Gaara was still intently staring into the Li territory. He was surveying the big, bold gold letters "Li Clan" engraved on to a jade stone beside the right side of the main gate.

He wasn't going away so Freya thought of an idea. She appeared from behind the wall, startling Gaara.

"Good afternoon, is there anything you want?" she asked politely, bowing down to Gaara.

The red-haired sand-nin widened his eyes as he recognized Freya. "It's you. That girl from the fields…."

Freya nodded. "It's nice to see you so soon," she said out truthfully.

"Are you from this clan?" he asked coolly.

"Umm….I was here to feed the clan's Pokemon since they were away," Freya answered again truthfully.

'_So she's not from this clan?'_ Gaara thought. _'What in world's name are Pokemon? I've heard that this clan was raising some unique creatures though….'_

"The whole of the clan are away?" he asked again.

"The three who are living here went for exams and the rest of the clan went on a journey or moved to other countries," Freya patiently replied.

"Right…thank you for answering my questions," Gaara said politely and he went away.

Freya waited as he went away and she headed off to the direction of the village. "It must mean the exams are over…" she said to herself. She walked deep in thought as she entered the busy market.

"Kura-chan! Are you here to buy vegetables?" she heard someone call. She turned around and saw a lady in a vegetable store. She went up to her.

"Yes. I was going to make dinner but the vegetables were finished," Freya said. In the village, she had told them to call her Kura. The name of her 'normal villager' identity was originated from her middle name, 'Sakura'.

"It must be tough. Since your family left on a ritual journey and left you with your older brothers…" the lady stated.

"Yea, but Ran-nii (Syaoran) and Ryuu-nii (Rouryuu) are very supportive and helpful," she said brightly, smiling.

"That's right. They are very good brothers to a very good sister. Are the rest of your family returning soon?" the lady asked.

Freya nodded. "Yup. Oka-san said they might be done with the ritual journey soon. I'm not sure in how many months though…."

"I see, that's good. Here are your vegetables." She said, handing Freya some vegetables.

"But, Kura, what family are you from? You must be from a family with a certain background if ritual journeys are required," the vegetable seller asked her, wiping her hands on her apron.

"That's a secret miss, but you can be sure that my family is a hundred percent originated from here," Freya said smiling pleasantly.

"Well, since you were little, you only told us villagers to call you Kura. You wouldn't tell us if you had gone to ninja school or what family or surname you own," the lady said doubtfully.

"Don't worry that's just a little thing," Freya replied.

"Okay then. I won't ask anymore, Kura-chan. By the way, have you heard that the Li family would be back soon? Since the branch members moved to other parts of the world, the main family declared that they would go on a journey of some sort. I heard from passers-by of the territory that the Li gates are still opened daily," the woman stated.

"Well, that's interesting…." Freya said carefully.

"Well, that's just a rumor. I'm keen to see what the members of the main family look like and how they are like though…well, Kura-chan, best be on your way now," the lady concluded.

Freya nodded and said a 'thank you' and headed towards other stores. While doing her shopping, Freya's thoughts were on Gaara.

'_I wonder why was he there…_' Freya stopped in front of a cloth shop and looked in through the window.

"Should I make new clothes?" the girl mused to herself.

She went into the shop and looked around. Freya bought some cloth and wool and exited the store. She hurried back to her home to make dinner for her and her brothers. She went in and closed the gates and locked it for the night.

Upon entering the house, she was greeted by the sound of intense clashing and battling from the dojo. She put down the groceries in the kitchen and went upstairs to put away the cloth material and wool. Before going to the dojo, she took Yelan's letter from the dining table. She crossed the pathway leading to the massive dojo and looked in. In the dojo, Pokemon were battling one another, doing exercises, practicing ninja techniques and her brothers were assisting them.

She noticed her Pokemon had joined in the so called 'sparring session'. They were easy to distinguish since they each had a small shining petal either on any part of their faces. Freya stood at the doorway, waiting for them to notice her. They finally noticed her when a strong draft blew into the dojo, causing the bell on Freya's choker to move and ring.

"Oh, it's Freya. Stay away from that Gaara brat from today onwards whenever possible," were Rouryuu's first words when they noticed her.

Freya rose an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"

"Just cause we said so," Syaoran said, wiping his sword's blade.

Rouryuu looked over at his brother. They had seen the fight between Rock Lee and Gaara and that wasn't a happy and fun memory. Both Lis were thankful that their sister wasn't there at that time to witness the fight.

With her brothers' answer still bugging her, she pushed the questioning thought away and held up the letter. The boys clearly saw all three of their names written there.

"What's that?" Syaoran asked, putting his sword down. Freya walked into the dojo. All the activities that were in the dojo which had been commencing now stopped and there was nothing but silence.

"I was waiting for you to come back before opening the letter…it's from oka-san," Freya said, sitting down with her brothers at an area in the dojo which was parted off with wooden partings and furnished with seats and a table.

"Haha (mother)?" the brothers said at the same time, surprised. The Pokemon all chorused along with the boys in their own lingo but with the same tone.

Freya nodded. "Shall I open it now?" Her brothers nodded.

Freya opened the letter carefully and spread it onto the table.

"_My dear children, Rouryuu, Syaoran and Freya, although you have not sent in your reply yet I'm writing you this letter. Me and your other sisters, Fuutie, Sheifa, Fanren and Femei are going back to Konohagakure in less than two months. I'm sure now is the chuunin exams season. The Hokage wrote to me that he felt that it was time that he allowed you to take the exam. It has been years since you all have graduated together when Freya finally turned three and the Hokage took you as his students._

_Because he did not allow you to join the chuunin exams in the years before, do not feel ill towards your mentor. This is because he feels that you all were not mature enough to take the exams so he put it off for a long time. I'm sure now you can all still remember how surprised and terrified you were when you learnt that your mentor issued you a high-ranking mission for your first mission. I still remember that you were all reluctant to go. Now, I'm sure that you can carry out your missions without breaking a sweat. _

_Still, never underestimate your enemies and be wary around unfamiliar places and people. I'm sure now, Rouryuu is thinking about how you all could've been jounins a long time ago. But, enjoy the experience of a chuunin test while you can. Don't let your identities slip. Remember the hassle when that young boy, Uzumaki Naruto found out about you and told that girl Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. You were lucky that they were willing to keep the secret._

_Tend to the Dragon Forest well and treat the Pokemon, both tamed and wild well. Expect our arrival anytime soon and always remember our family motto, '__**Always expect the unexpected'**_

_With love from your mother"_

"Less than two months?!" Rouryuu said, sitting back.

"I don't understand what she wanted to imply in the letter," Syaoran muttered.

"The Sandaime and oka-san were keeping in touch?" Freya asked.

"What's this all about reminiscing the past and telling us to beware of enemies and such?" Rouryuu said.

"This is all weird business," the siblings chorused.

"Well….I'm going to make dinner. Anyone interested?" Freya asked her brothers.

"I wanna eat Freya's food," Rouryuu said, getting up.

"It's useless to pore over a letter," Syaoran said, quickly following his siblings suit.

"Admit it, you want to eat Freya's food too," Rouryuu smirked.

"Freya, what are you making today? Shall we set the table?" Syaoran said, directing the subject away from his love for his sister's cooking.

Rouryuu chuckled. "Hey, I love Freya's cooking and I ain't afraid to admit it even though it sounds like I'm a glutinous pig."

"Okay, stop arguing. You guys can tell me about the next test while having dinner. Rouryuu, go clean the garden paths please. **Use. A. Broom. **Or I'll confiscate that scroll for a week ," Freya said, getting out things from the grocery bags.

"Yes ma'am," Rouryuu said jokingly, saluting Freya and marching away with the broom as sword.

Freya and Syaoran sweat-dropped at their sibling's antic.

"Sometimes, I think you're his older brother," Freya said.

"**I** think that too myself," Syaoran replied.

While Rouryuu was sweeping the garden paths, Freya was making dinner happily and Syaoran was cleaning the kitchen. When everything was set in the dining room, the siblings started on their meal. Rouryuu and Syaoran took turns explaining the next match to their sister. It was to be held in one month in an arena and Freya was up against a senior ninja, locally from their village.

"So this month's about training and preparing for that match?" Freya asked.

Her brothers nodded.

"You might wanna go visit some people at the hospital too," Rouryuu said.

Syaoran choked on his water.

"Are you okay?" Freya asked with a worried expression.

Syaoran nodded his head vigorously and continued eating.

"Visit? Hospital?" Freya asked Rouryuu.

Rouryuu nodded. "You know, like that Sasuke dude, or that Hinata girl who was beaten by her cousin," he said casually.

"Or that Rock Lee guy….." Syaoran murmured.

Freya looked at her brothers for a moment. She exhaled and said with a smile, "Okay then."

They finished dinner and helped Freya wash up. Syaoran and Rouryuu sat out on the veranda in the East of the manor while Freya went back up to bathe.

"You gonna tell her about Rock Lee's match?" Syaoran asked.

His brother took a draught from his teacup and replied, "**I **might enjoy and have fun spoiling Freya's impression of that Gaara brat but after all, it could make Freya scared too…"

"Well, I think that maybe this time Freya wouldn't be so scared actually…" Syaoran mused.

"You're right. She has grown up already. You think we still treat her like a baby?" Rouryuu asked.

"Can a baby cook so expertly?" Syaoran sighed.

"I don't think babies can make desserts," Rouryuu said.

"Ah, but after all, we do think of her as a child…." The brothers said in unison, took a draught from their teacups, slumped and sighed. All in a few words, _acted like old men_.

"I think we need her to experience some terror or sort to make her emotionally strong. She may be mature for a kid but she can get freak scared at times," Rouryuu muttered.

"Yea…but don't you think she suffered enough?" Syaoran asked.

There was a silence. "Uhh, bro, when did Freya ever suffer in her life?" Rouryuu questioned.

Syaoran thought for a while. He didn't know. It was an automatic answer. Somehow, something from the depths of his mind made him say that. He couldn't recall when Freya had suffered. Ever since she was born, she had been happy. Wait, he remembered something.

"I don't remember anything about Freya except since she was three years old," the brothers said at the same time with a surprised tone.

"I remember the time when Freya was a few days old and then we all gathered for a family photo though….." Rouryuu said.

"But, how do we know that otokoo (father) died when Freya was two?" Syaoran said.

"We were told that by haha (mother) so it's natural that we reply 'when Freya was two'," Rouryuu said.

"This is a strange world," Syaoran said. He sipped his tea.

"We really don't know much about Freya's babyhood do we?" Rouryuu said quietly.

"Yea. I'm gonna talk about this with Sheifa when she comes back," Syaoran said, referring to his oldest sister.

"Agreed," his brother replied.

Author's Note: I know this chap took a long time. I'm sorry! Did you guys like it? Read and review please?

Yours,

MewKohaku


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

  


* * *

  


Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon! I only own some of the characters here and the only ccs characters I'm using is Li Syaoran & his sisters & his mother! (Also it contains some spoilers for some Naruto episodes!)

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 9

(At the main Li manor)

As the sun rays filtered through the curtains in Freya's room, Freya woke up yawning. She rubbed her eyes blearily and sat up.

"The training month starts today pikachu!" she called to her sleeping Pokemon.

Pikachu woke up yawning and nodded its head sleepily. Freya smiled and took a shower and changed into her training clothes. She grabbed her mask and ran out of her room with pikachu trailing behind her. She walked into the kitchen to make breakfast. As she was finished putting everything onto the table with her pokemon's help, her brothers and their Pokemon came in, carrying pails and boxes.

"Morning Freya. We've finished feeding the Pokemon in the den and the ones in the greenhouse…" Rouryuu said, sitting down.

"I tried searching for the thing you said in the forest, but although I detect a dark presence, I can't pinpoint its location," Syaoran said with a disappointed aura around him.

"Well, it's ok. I'm sure we'll be able to find it soon. Eat your breakfast," Freya said.

"Right," both brothers said and they began to eat.

Freya fed the Pokemon who were with them and started on her own breakfast too. After washing up, they told each other about their plans for the day.

"I'm going to train in the mountains," Syaoran said.

"I'll train in the valleys then," Rouryuu replied.

"I'll visit the injured," Freya said smiling.

Her brothers looked a little doubtful.

"With my mask on of course…" Freya added hastily.

"Shall we go greet the Sandaime first?" Rouryuu, who was although brash was still respectful and had great knowledge of the law.

"Okay," Syaoran said, getting up. He returned his Pokemon and started out of the kitchen.

"Wait..." Freya took up a basket and followed her brothers.

"What's in the basket?" Rouryuu asked, interested.

"Some sweets I made for the Hokage," Freya answered.

"Can I?" Rouryuu asked, meaning that he wanted some of the pastries Freya made for the Hokage.

Freya shook her head sternly. "You can have some later after training. These are for the Sandaime."

"Fine…" Rouryuu grumbled and the siblings set off to the Hokage Tower.

Gaara opened his eyes. He was sitting on top of the roof of the place where he and his siblings were staying. He was concentrating on the sounds of Konoha, trying to distinguish them. Laughter of children, adults and merchants bargaining, cutlery clinking and so on. As he was doing all these, the picture of his scene with Freya, as Kura at the main gates of the Li territory flashed through his mind.

"She's a mysterious one…" Gaara quietly murmured to himself.

He pictured Kura (Freya) in his mind and tried to analyze her features_. 'She seems familiar somehow…'_

Freya's picture flashed through his mind_. 'I wonder what's under that mask. Does she have some sort of scar?'_

"Scar..." Gaara mumbled. He looked at his right palm and thought of the beast in him.

Gaara looked over Konoha village and spotted someone familiar.

"Li Freya…" he said softly.

He saw Freya and her brothers walking through the busy streets. He saw that Freya was carrying a basket in her hand and noticed Pikachu on top of her head.

'_Is that what they call a Pokemon?'_

He watched the siblings walking to the direction of the Hokage tower until they were out of sight. _'What am I doing watching them?'_

Gaara shook his head vigorously.

Rouryuu was about to knock at the Hokage's office door when someone opened the door and crashed into him.

"Oww…" the person mumbled.

Rouryuu looked down and saw Konohamaru. "Look, are you okay?" he asked, extending a hand.

"You might think that the Rouryuu who loves to eat sweets might have a soft and fat belly instead of an abdomen which is hard as rock..." Konohamaru grumbled, rubbing his forehead and taking Rouryuu's hand.

"Well, sor-**ree** to disappoint you your highness," Rouryuu said sarcastically, obviously offended, "Shall I go on a diet consisting of sweets and not train but sit at home all day so I can develop your desired sort of belly and take up a job becoming your personal pillow?"

"Yeah, go on and do that. You might not be able to catch me anymore," Konohamaru snapped back as sarcastically.

"Look now, don't fight…" Freya said reasonably.

Rouryuu listened to her but Konohamaru just ignored her and continued glaring at Freya's oldest brother.

"Whatever Freya, stay out of this. This is a man's fight and little girls like you should stay out of this," Konohamaru stated.

Coolly, Freya stood in Konohamaru's way blocking his view of Rouryuu. "Right and this little girl happen to be a person who is always catching this man," she said, pointing at Konohamaru.

Realizing what he had just said, Konohamaru sweated profusely and bowed down to her repeatedly and started saying 'Sorry' multiple times.

The Li siblings and Konohamaru heard someone laugh from the office. "Looks like she has just beaten you with a few words," the Hokage said, appearing at the doorway.

"Shut up old man," Konohamaru spat.

Dangerously, Rouryuu got down to Konohamaru's level and whispered to him, "What did you say to your grandfather?"

"Umm…ImeanIwouldappreciateitifyoudidn'tlaughsomuchasyoucoulddiefromlaughing…," Konohamaru nervously said, running his sentence together.

"Well said," the Sandaime said with approval. "You may go Konohamaru."

As Konohamaru was about to leave, Freya called to him, "Wait Konohamaru-kun!"

Konohamaru looked back and saw Freya looking apologetic. "I'm sorry for that. Here, this is for your family and you," Freya apologized, reaching in the basket and taking out a box.

"Thanks Freya," Konohamaru smiled and took the box from her and left.

"Sorry for his crude behavior," the Hokage apologized, leading the siblings into the room.

"Nah, it's okay," Rouryuu said, brushing the Hokage's apology away.

"What brings you here?" the Hokage asked, sitting down.

"We wanted to greet you and Freya has some things for you," Syaoran said.

"Good morning sensei," the siblings chorused respectfully.

Freya held out the basket.

"Good morning to you too. Thank you. Freya, you could take out the things and leave it on the desk there," the Hokage said, pointing at an empty desk at the left side of the room.

Freya nodded and set about, taking things out from the basket.

"Congratulations on passing to the main test," the Hokage said.

The siblings nodded. "Our mother is coming back in less than two months," Syaoran informed him.

"I know, her letter arrived here earlier," the Hokage replied.

"Why was Konohamaru running out?" Freya questioned.

"He wanted to join in the main matches…" the Hokage sighed.

"He has school on that day," Rouryuu reasoned.

"That's why I said no. He got angry and ran out," the Hokage said. _"And also, I fear it would be dangerous_…" he added softly.

Freya's sharp hearing caught this sentence and she looked at the Hokage, confused.

"Anyway, how are you kids going to train for the matches?" the Hokage asked, changing the subject.

"Well, I'm going to the valleys, Syaoran's going to the mountains and Freya's going to the Konoha Hospital," Rouryuu said.

The Sandaime raised an eyebrow and asked," Hospital?"

"I wanted to visit those who were injured in the preliminary matches," Freya replied.

"Compassion comes first for you eh?" the Hokage asked, smiling.

Freya nodded. "That's good. Well, good luck on your training. You can go now," the Hokage said.

* * *

The siblings bowed and left the tower. The siblings separated ways and Freya headed off to the hospital with basket in hand. She entered the hospital and knew who she was going to visit first. Sasuke. She went up to the receptionist at the reception desk.

"Excuse me, may I visit Uchiha Sasuke?" Freya asked politely.

The receptionist looked at her and said, "I'm sorry, he isn't allowed any visitors at the moment…"

Freya looked a little crestfallen, "Is that so?"

The receptionist nodded, "Wait…May I know your name?"

Freya nodded, "Yes, my name is Li Sakura Freya."

The receptionist bowed her head, "You were asked for." And she gave Freya Sasuke's room number.

'_Private room? He must've been seriously injured…'_ Freya thought worriedly, remembering Sasuke's match during the previous day.

After knocking on the door, as she opened the door, a male ANBU member jumped at her, but Freya jumped over him. "I'm visiting Sasuke-kun," Freya announced quietly.

"Don't worry, she's no harm. I asked for her," a muffled voice said.

Freya looked around and saw Kakashi. "Kakashi-nii!" Freya said, surprised.

"Why is security so tight in here?" Freya questioned. She closed her eyes and used her senses to survey the room's condition. "There was fighting going on in here…" she answered her own question softly.

"Correct. Someone tried to kill your friend," Kakashi said gravely.

"Some people died…" Freya again said softly. She used her heightened sense of smell and smelled a familiar scent. "Isn't this that Kabuto-san person?"

"He was that infiltrator," Kakashi replied. Sasuke started breathing heavily and Freya walked to his side.

"I'll leave him to you Freya…" Kakashi said quietly.

"We've already given him tranquilizers," an ANBU said.

Freya nodded. Putting down her basket, she set about the room. The ANBU members went out along with Kakashi. Freya drew the curtains close and took off her mask. Unbeknownst to her, before she drew the curtains close, there was someone watching outside and hearing her conversation with Kakashi. Gaara.

'_What's she doing here? Since when did she become a medic-nin?'_ Gaara thought quietly. He stood beside Sasuke's room window and listened to the activity going in there.

Freya positioned herself beside Sasuke. She examined his heart rate and so on. With her cat eyes, she looked at his damaged internal organs.

"This should be easy…I'll reconstruct his tissues…." Freya said to herself as she got to work. Using her chakra, with a little help of magic, Freya successfully reconstructed all of Sasuke's damaged organs and she transfused some chakra into him to give his organs energy to function properly. She spotted a strange mark on his neck.

Freya touched it lightly and a jolt pulsed through her and a picture focused into her mind.

(Freya's mind's eye)

_A man with long hair grabbed a miniature version of Freya's arm as she tried to run away from his fangs. Little Freya started crying with terror and attempted to fight back. She kicked her captor in the gut and used her tail to hit his face and he released her. Freya jumped up and floated upwards. People were now chasing the little girl, pursuing her and shouting. Freya flew upwards and picked up her speed. _

_With her small hands, she directed her palms at her pursuers and screamed, "Thunder God's Rays!" _

_Bolts of lighting emitted from her palms and hit her pursuers. She managed to rid of some of them. She continued flying ahead of her. She reached the big dark doors ahead of her. Sunlight streamed in from it. With a sense of relief, little Freya finally flew out of the door, the closing door barely missing her. It was raining heavily and Freya was crying with relief._

(Back to reality)

Freya flinched and jumped backwards from the seal. She blinked several times. _'I never experienced that before…'_ she thought, referring to the flashback.

Sasuke stirred a little and he blearily opened his eyes. The effect of the drugs that the ANBU had given to him had worn off. He looked around the room slowly. His eyes caught sight of Freya washing her hands in a basin at his right side and he widened his eyes and sat up. "Freya! What are you doing here?"

Freya turned to look at her friend, "Oh, Sasuke-kun. You're awake! I finished reconstructing your damaged internals and I've given you some of my chakra." She smiled at him.

Sasuke looked at her, "You we're operating on me?"

Freya laughed, "I didn't have to open you up but yeah, you can say that in a way…"

The black haired ninja looked at her with wonder. _'I didn't know she was taking up medical ninja training…'_

"Don't worry I was certified as medical ninja a long time ago," Freya said reassuring him.

"But why don't you just work as a medical ninja then?" Sasuke reasoned.

"I like to have all kinds of experience," Freya answered simply. She walked to the basket and picked it up.

"I thought _Kakashi_ was the one who brought me here and why isn't it the doctors who reconstructed my organs?" Sasuke asked stubbornly. He felt that he was troubling Freya.

"Well, Kakashi-nii brought you in yesterday. The doctors tried to reconstruct your organs. When I came here to visit you, I was requested at the same time to come in and help you. You were in critical condition," Freya said patiently.

"You came. To. Visit. Me?" Sasuke asked, surprised. "Why was I in critical condition?"

"I came to visit you. And you were in critical condition just because you were," Freya said, avoiding the subject of Kabuto's attempt to kill him.

She took out an apple from the basket and took out a kunai. She quickly ran the kunai round the apple and the peel came off. She ran the kunai in several directions on the apple and the apple was sliced. Freya placed the apple onto a plate and gave it to Sasuke. "These are for you," Freya said kindly, smiling.

Freya took a chair and sat down. "You'll be okay. Just eat some of the medicine prescribed by the doctor daily so your organs can continue functioning after the transfused chakra finishes…"

"Are you okay? You did transfuse chakra after all…" Sasuke asked, avoiding Freya's amber gaze.

"I'm okay. I should ask you that. After all, for me, transfusing chakra is easily like transfusing blood…" Freya said chirpily "I have a lot of chakra still," she added.

'_That's true, she's pretty good and her chakra rarely shows limit…'_ Sasuke thought.

* * *

Outside, Gaara caught the word 'blood' being mentioned. He listened carefully and recognized Freya's voice.

'_Strange…a person like her is talking about blood…'_ Gaara thought.

A voice inside his mind echoed, _'Blood…you want blood'_

Gaara clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

'_NO! Finally someone like that Li girl was nice to me…I must not spoil her impression on me!' _Gaara thought.

'_Wait! What the heck am I thinking? I don't care if she was nice to me! She must've been pretending right?'_ Gaara thought again, frustrated.

He shook his head vigorously and thought, _'ARGH! I cannot take this!_' and he jumped away from Konoha Hospital.

Inside the room, Freya and Sasuke heard a noise from outside the window. "Who's there?" Sasuke demanded.

Freya stood up and walked to the window and drew the curtains open. She opened the curtains just in time to see Gaara's retreating figure.

"Gaara-chan…" she whispered softly to herself.

'_What did you do to make my brothers so wary of you?_' she thought.

"Who was it?" Sasuke asked.

"No one…it was just a bird…" Freya said distractedly.

'_Something's wrong with her…'_ Sasuke thought, eating the apples.

Freya got up and took her basket and grabbed her mask.

"I'll visit Hinata-san…" Freya decided. Freya had met Hinata several times before in several training fields when Hinata was training. They became acquainted with one another when Freya taught Hinata the right places to hit someone to make that person weak.

"Bye Sasuke-kun. Rest properly and don't strain yourself kay?" Freya smiled at him before putting her mask and leaving the room.

"Wait! Freya!" Sasuke called after her. But Freya had gone and closed the door. He had wanted to thank her for giving chakra to him and reconstructing his internal organs but she had gone.

'_I must thank her next time…'_ Sasuke decided.

* * *

By the time it was noon, Freya had finished visiting her friends at hospital. As she was walking to the receptionist desk, she saw Kakashi.

"Kakashi-nii!" Freya called.

Kakashi looked up from his book and saw Freya. Putting his book away, he walked up to the young girl.

"So, how did it go?" he asked.

"Actually, I finished it a few hours ago…but I went ahead and visited some other people…" Freya said sheepishly.

"Nah, it's okay. I posted some ANBU members there to keep guard already. I just wanted to know his status," Kakashi said, referring to Sasuke.

"He's fine. Just make sure he eats the medicines that the doctor gave. I saw that they contained the elements that will help his organs function. I transfused my chakra into him to help him for the moment. Don't strain him too much okay?" Freya advised.

"Right doctor," Kakashi joked. "And thanks."

"No problem." Freya smiled.

Freya and her pikachu headed towards her home to change out of her clothes and head to the flowers field. After she had left her basket and mask and changed her clothes, she returned her pikachu into its ball and grabbed her backpack and set out towards the flower fields.

_'No use thinking about the matches and getting all worked up…'_ Freya thought to herself as she was walking towards the flower fields.

She went in and sat under her usual Sakura tree. She closed her eyes and relaxed her mind. She looked up as she heard a rustle of petals from above. She saw a familiar red-haired boy with teal eyes.

"Ga- Sabaku-san!" Freya said, catching herself in time as she was about to call Gaara, 'Gaara-chan'.

Gaara realized that Freya had noticed him.

'_What was she about to call me?'_ he thought.

"Sabaku-san is my father's name," Gaara said coldly.

Ignoring the coldness in his voice, Freya said, "Then what do you want me to call you?"

"Anything but Gaara," he replied stoically.

"Well then, Sabaku-san, form now onwards, I'll call you Gaara-chan!" Freya said happily. Now, she won't mix up with what names to call Gaara whenever she was in her villager form or vice versa.

Gaara flinched when she said the word 'Gaara-chan'. He remembered someone who calls him by that name as well.

"Li Freya," he said softly.

Freya's heart rate quickened as she thought that Gaara knew that she was Freya. Calmly, she looked up and asked, "Li Freya?"

Gaara looked down and said, "A girl who calls me by that same name too…"

'_Somehow, when she says that, I remember that girl…'_ Gaara thought and Freya's picture, in her ninja form of course, appeared in his mind.

'_ARGH! What am I thinking?!'_ Gaara shook his head.

Freya sighed in relief. Good. He wasn't aware that Freya and Kura was the same person.

"But you know, the way both of you call me is really the same," Gaara said, quietly.

"Well, one day, I would like to meet her then." Freya said.

"Don't you work for them?" Gaara asked, referring to the previous day.

"Well, I'm only assigned to feed their Pokemon," Freya answered.

Gaara looked at her and sat down on the branch which he was standing on.

"Ne, Gaara-chan, are you here to take the chuunin tests?" Freya asked, changing the subject.

Seeing as it was no harm to converse with this simple girl, Gaara answered, "Yes, in fact I am."

"Gaara-chan, do you like it here in the fields?" Freya asked, yet again.

"Well, I can't say I like it or not. But it's okay," Gaara replied nonchalantly.

"I love it here…" Freya said, with a peaceful expression on her face. Gaara looked down at her, interested.

"I especially love this tree. Because, well, my father was the one who planted this tree years ago. Before I was born. Maybe during Fuutie-nee chan's time," Freya continued.

"Fuutie?" Gaara asked.

Freya realized she had just given one hint that she was a Li member. "Umm…well, she's just someone I know…" Freya said.

Gaara said, "So you love this tree because your father planted it?"

"Yea, well, whenever I come to this tree, I feel that oto-san is here beside me," Freya said.

"But, can't you go home and see your father?" he asked.

"That's where you are wrong Gaara-chan. My father has passed on. Oka-san told me that he died when I was two. She said that he was rescuing someone when he was killed," Freya said sadly.

Gaara said, "I'm sorry for reminding you of him."

"Well, actually, this tree reminds me of him. So you don't need to be sorry," Freya said, "I still have my siblings and my mother,"

'_So she has her mother and doesn't have her father while I don't have my mother but have my father?'_ Gaara thought. _'And I have a useless father…'_

"Do your mother and siblings love you?" Gaara asked, momentarily forgetting that he was in a conversation with Kura (Freya).

"Yes, Gaara-chan. And I love them as well. We are family, that's why we love one another," Freya answered smiling.

'_Oops…'_ Gaara thought.

When he heard this, he could not help but ask, "How do you even know that they love you?"

Surprised, Freya answered, "That is because, when someone loves you, they somehow keep in touch with you when you are far away from one another. They are always worried about you. They would always want to protect you. Well that is how I feel that family love is…"

'_Family love huh?'_ Gaara thought. He pictured his sister, brother and father. '_This is trash…'_

"Don't you feel that although they love you, one day, they would turn to hate you, not care for you and think that you are a monster?" Gaara asked bitterly and coldly.

"Ne, Gaara-chan, if not for your mother, you would've not been born. If you are in trouble, your siblings and your father would support you. To be frank, I feel that your family is like your invisible second backbone," Freya said softly.

"Even though your father is gone, you still feel that way?" Gaara asked stonily.

"My father….well, although my father is gone, he would always remain here," Freya said, pointing to the area where her heart is.

"Here?" Gaara followed her actions.

Amused, Freya asked, "Do you know what's in here?"

Freya waited for Gaara's answer. After a few seconds when Gaara did not answer, Freya said, "It's your heart Gaara-chan. Although someone dear is gone, memories of that person will always remain in your heart. If you have no memories of that person but that person is still dear to you, Gaara-chan, the picture of that person would also still remain in your heart."

'_Always in the heart huh?'_ Gaara thought. _'But I will only love myself…'_

A voice echoed in his mind, "_That's right; you will __**always **__be alone and only love yourself…_"

"What do you know?" Gaara suddenly snapped.

Taken aback, Freya blinked and looked up at Gaara. "I'm sorry..." Freya said quietly.

'_Don't his siblings and parents love him?'_ Freya thought.

"My mother died when I was born and the person who claimed to be my friend and love me, turned out to hate me," Gaara said bitterly, "The people of my village hate me because I have a monster in me…My father, the Kazekage, or if I can actually call him my father, thinks of me as a weapon for the village. There was a person in my early years…during that time when people hated me, that person was my friend. Where is that person? That person left!"

'_That person…'_ Gaara thought. He couldn't remember how that person looked like but he knew that that person had been good to him. Until that day when that person left.

Calmly, Freya said, "Gaara-chan, monster or no monster, what matters most is the heart of the person. People may hate you but, you must ignore that and continue to be friendly and show that you want to be friends…It's not how you look like or what is inside your body but it's what is inside your heart," Freya explained.

"My heart…" Gaara echoed quietly.

"That's right. Your heart. Looks don't matter. What's in your body don't matter. Only your heart matters," Freya repeated, smiling.

* * *

It was already night. On top of a fish monument on a roof, Gaara sat there, with his head on his arm over his lap. His mind replayed the previous events of that day. Freya's presence at the Konoha Hospital and his conversation with Kura. He heard a sound and looked up.

"You sure got me there…don't you sleep?" a voice said.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked coldly. He saw a ninja with a furry cape and bandages standing there. It the sound nin finalist, Dosu Kinuta.

"I planned to get you when you finally fell asleep, but I guess it didn't work…or did you notice me?" Dosu said.

'_I was thinking of the Li girl and Kura girl and didn't notice him…_' Gaara thought.

Gaara just glared at him.

"Now we can just fight here. I'll just kill you then I'll have more chance of beating that Uchiha kid," Dosu said.

'_Sasuke huh?'_ Gaara thought. And he thought of Freya's voice conversing with Sasuke at the hospital. '_What am I thinking?'_

"I know about your sand techniques…is it better than my sound?" Dosu countered.

"'He' gets a yearning for blood when there is a full moon…' Gaara said dangerously, getting up. At that moment, everything about Freya and Kura was forgotten. (A/N: It's as if he was thinking about two people yeah?)

Dosu positioned himself at a distance away from Gaara.

Gaara raised his hand and clenched it. Piercing screams could be heard throughout the silent night sky.

Gaara had killed him.

At the Li manor, Freya who was lying on her bed restless heard the scream with her extremely sensitive ears. Immediately at the sound of the scream, Freya's cat ears popped up and twitched in pain. Freya dove under her pillow and tried to retreat her cat ears and block the screams out of her human ears.

'_Who was that?'_ Freya thought. '_I wonder if that person's okay...'_

Freya was alone in the manor. Her brothers both sent her a message via their pidgeys telling her that they extended their training at their respective places and decided to stay there. "That couldn't be either Syao-nii or Rouryuu-nii, their voices are different. Right pikachu?" Freya asked her Pokemon who had cuddled up with her.

Still thinking of the scream, Freya finally nodded off.

* * *

Freya awoke the next day with a determination to train hard.

After doing the feeding and having breakfast, Freya walked out of the house with her mask on and pikachu by her side.

The young Li girl looked over at her Pokemon and said, "Let's go and see what training we can do today shall we?" Pikachu nodded in agreement.

Freya walked out of the gates and pushed thoughts of the screams away from her head. Freya walked down the streets leading to a forest.

"Let's see if we can find you some battle partners, pikachu…" Freya said.

As Freya and pikachu turned a corner, something, or rather, _someone_ ran into them.

Freya got up and helped the person up too. Although it wasn't her fault, Freya bowed down and apologized profusely.

"Freya!" she heard a voice. Freya stopped her apologizing process and looked up.

"Konohamaru-kun!" Freya said, surprised.

"Hi Freya! You're just the right person!" Konohamaru exclaimed, excited.

"Me? Right? What?" Freya asked, pointing at herself, sweat dropping.

"Yes! Freya! I stole a mission from gramps and I want you to help me with it!" Konohamaru said, producing a paper.

"What makes you think I'm going to help you? I might want to, but you would get into trouble!" Freya said.

"It's all right! This is an extermination mission!" Konohamaru said.

"Extermination?" Freya asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! It's in Konoha! So you don't have to worry too much. Although I think it's easy, it's ranked a B mission. I guess it's because the things we're exterminating are beasts," Konohamaru said.

Freya took the paper from Konohamaru and read it over. She got an idea. "Ne, Konohamaru-kun. I'll accept this mission but I want to use this as training for me and my Pokemon. Can I?"

"Sure! As long as you take me with you!" Konohamaru said enthusiastically.

Freya nodded. "All right. But later, you must confess that you stole the paper okay? I don't mind getting into trouble but you must tell the truth because you won't wanna turn into a liar."

"Whatever you say! Let's go!" Konohamaru said. And with that, they headed off towards their destination.

Freya and Konohamaru, along with her pikachu, arrived at a forest which has a river running through it with a waterfall.

"People usually come here to play in the river because the water current here is not strong and the waterfall provides a good place for keeping your inner-peace," Konohamaru stated with an air of knowledge.

Freya nodded. "Right and everything can be destroyed if we don't rid the beast. Am I right?" Freya asked.

Konohamaru nodded. "As expected from someone like you Freya."

"Well, let's go find the beasts now…" Freya said as she and pikachu headed towards south of the forest.

Konohamaru ran after Freya.

* * *

The trio walked along the forest looking for beasts. As they were walking, they heard a faint growling from ahead. Konohamaru and Freya looked at each other and nodded. They ran in the direction ahead and readied themselves to fight the first beast. Konohamaru was thinking of fighting alongside Freya but Freya was thinking of another totally different situation.

Freya released a charmeleon and said, "Look after Konohamaru-kun!" The released charmeleon grabbed hold of Konohamaru and followed Freya suit.

Freya stopped in front of a huge creature that looked like an over-sized cockroach. "Right. It's training time!"

"Pikachu! Use thunder!" Freya commanded.

Pikachu expertly dodged the beast's flailing legs and got onto its back. Grabbing hold of its feelers, pikachu emitted bolts of thunder from its red cheeks. The beast got up on its hind legs and pikachu fell off. "Pikachu! Use the Lis' secret technique!" Freya commanded.

Pikachu floated above the ground just in time to stop its fall. Freya stopped in front of the beast and said, "Right. It's an extermination mission. I'm sorry but we must get rid of you."

Freya turned back and said, "Konohamaru-kun! You said you wanted to play a part in the mission am I right?"

Konohamaru nodded. "Okay then, ask my charmeleon to use fire blast," Freya called.

Konohamaru puffed up his chest and yelled, "Charmeleon! Use fire blast!"

The Pokemon that Konohamaru was riding on, charged towards the beast and spat out a huge fireball which hit the beast. At the same time, Freya jumped up took off her mask and emitted fire from her own mouth.

The beast fainted and instead of celebrating with joy, Konohamaru stared at Freya.

"You didn't say any jutsu incantation!" he said, referring to the fire that Freya spat out.

Freya walked over to Konohamaru with pikachu on her head and said, "Well, Konohamaru, you know that I can control any element I want right?"

Konohamaru nodded, "Yea, but that's _**control**_."

"Yes, well, in addition to that, I can also spew out those elements naturally from my body," Freya explained.

"Watch," Freya said. She held up her right hand. A mini whirlwind was twirling on Freya's thumb. A small flame was burning on Freya's index finger. A small blob of water was hovering on her middle finger. Sparks were emitting from her ring finger and ice shards were sitting on top of her pinky.

"You can only control five?" Konohamaru asked.

"No. I said I can control any element. So you can just imagine what I can spew out from my hands," Freya explained.

"So is this the magic that gramps told me about that runs in your family?" Konohamaru asked. Freya nodded in reply.

"Okay…" Konohamaru said. "Let's go on the next monster!"

Freya, her two Pokemon and Konohamaru walked off to find the next monster.

* * *

"Freya! That stupid dragonfly is flying away!" Konohamaru called. Freya and Konohamaru had been dealing with a lot of beasts by now. They were dealing with a dragonfly this time.

The beast flew towards Konohamaru who was riding on Freya's charmeleon's back. "AHHH!! THE DRAOGNFLY IS COMING AT ME!!" Konohamaru yelled and he ran towards some bushes. And collided with someone.

"Konohamaru!" he heard someone say. "What are you doing here with Freya's Pokemon?"

Konohamaru looked up, "Naruto-nii chan! Don't talk! A dragonfly is after me!"

"Haha…it's just a dragonfly!" Naruto said laughing it off. He turned around and saw the unnaturally large dragonfly beast hovering above them.

"Yo! Naruto! What's wrong?," a voice said. A man with white hair and read clothes and markings appeared from another cluster of bushes.

"What the heck is that?!" he yelled pointing at the dragonfly.

"Ero-sennin! You're strong right? Deal with that thing!" Naruto said pointing at the dragonfly.

"What??" the so called, ero-sennin said. "No! You can use this as your training!"

Naruto's jaw dropped open, "What?! I can't take this down? ARGH! All right! I'll do it! Shadow clo-."

As Naruto's summon was about to be finished, a female voice rang out, "It's my training! I'm sorry for intruding!"

Freya, with her mask tucked in her sash kicked landed a straight kick squarely on the middle of the dragonfly's head and blasted water at its head. With these two simple attacks, the dragonfly fainted.

"Freya-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hi Naruto-kun. Sorry for intruding you and Kakashi-nii with your training," Freya said apologetically, bowing. She looked up and instead of Kakashi and Naruto; she saw Naruto and an unfamiliar person.

"Ahh!" Freya yelped. She turned around, covering her face.

'_Freya?'_ the man thought.

"Uhh…umm…this…girl…her name is Kura-chan…uhh….I always mix it up with Freya-chan…err…" Naruto said, flailing his arms around blocking the man's sight of Freya.

As Freya was putting on her mask, the man said, "Are you Li Sakura Freya? One of those kids? Don't you remember me? I last saw you when you were three! It's me Jiraiya!"

Freya slowly turned around with mask in hand. "Jiraiya-san?" she cocked her head to one side.

"Yeah! Don't you remember me?" Jiraiya asked.

Freya thought for a moment and said, "Nope. I don't remember you. Sorry. But you must know me right?"

Jiraiya nodded. "That's right."

'_I wonder what the Sandaime did to her after that…_' he thought.

"Hey, Naruto, is this cute girl your girl friend?" Jiraiya asked Naruto, changing the subject. "She seems stronger than you."

'That's of course…' he thought to himself privately.

"Well, she has always been way stronger than me! But I'll surpass her for sure! And well…about that girlfriend part…Ehehehe…" Naruto said.

"I'm not his girlfriend. I'm his friend," Freya said innocently. These words jabbed Naruto harshly.

"That's worse than a beating from Sakura-chan…" Naruto whined.

Freya looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry. Konohamaru-kun and I were chasing that dragonfly…"

"Whoa. Wait you were with_ Konohamaru_?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Uhh, well since this morning. We came here look-," Freya's sentence was cut off by Naruto yelling at Konohamaru.

"YOU WERE WITH FREYA-CHAN SINCE THIS MORNING?!"

"Wait! No! Let Freya finish her sentence!" Konohamaru pleaded.

"I was looking for something to train with and Konohamaru introduced me this mission, exterminating beasts here…" Freya explained.

Naruto's fist stopped in mid-air, above the cowering Konohamaru. Freya's charmeleon stood at one side with a blank look on its face.

"Oh..." Naruto said.

Konohamaru ran to Freya's side. "Ahh! Naruto-nii chan wants to kill me!"

Freya sweat dropped. "I don't think he was killing you…"

Jiraiya was deep in thought. _'How can she not remember me…After that day…?'_

(Jiraiya's flashback)

"_Old man!" a version of Jiraiya around 8 years younger called out to the Sandaime. "I heard that the last of the kids were found!" _

_The Sandaime turned around and faced him. "That's right. She's here…" he was holding a smaller version of Freya who was scarred and was sitting on his lap. Her eyes held no emotion at all._

"_She was found where?" Jiraiya asked._

"_In the Wind Country," the Hokage replied._

"_She's quite impressive I must say. She portrayed her experience since 'he' came and abducted her through a technique she developed herself in my mind. She was safe from 'him' few years ago already…" the Hokage said, stroking the girl's head._

"_What are you going to do to her now?" Jiraiya pressed._

"_You'll see…" the Hokage said mysteriously._

(End of flashback)

'_After that day, I left Konoha…he must've wiped her memory…did he wipe her brothers' too?_' He thought.

"Oi! Ero-sennin!" Naruto waved his hand in front of Jiraiya's face.

He snapped back in reality and said, "Get back to training!"

"Well, I was just saying that Freya and Konohamaru left already," Naruto grumbled.

"Oh? They did?" he asked.

Naruto nodded.

* * *

"Hey, Freya, are you going to use another macho Pokemon again to carry this dragonfly back?" Konohamaru asked, pointing to the dragonfly that Freya was hovering with her hands. She had already put on her mask.

"It's kind of freaky watching you make that thing float," Konohamaru added.

"It's just a technique. Anyway, this is the fifteenth one and the last one so, let's carry this back ourselves to the Hokage Tower," Freya said.

"We're bringing this to grandpa's office?" Konohamaru asked in wonder.

"No, were bringing it to the place where they hand out the missions," Freya said. "You know, where all my other Pokemon brought the others…"

"Okay. So your training for today is over?" Konohamaru asked, slightly disappointed.

Freya nodded. "That's right."

"Oh…but…can I keep the charmeleon?" Konohamaru asked, pointing at Freya's charmeleon.

The charmeleon looked at Konohamaru in alarm and shook its head and ran over to Freya and hugged her tightly.

"Well, even if you wanted it, you can't. I already stuck my sign with my blood on it. And you need to require something that the Li family has to actually gain total command over the Pokemon," Freya explained as they were walking out of the forest. "You were able to command my charmeleon because I gave it an order to listen to you,"

"Well, if I can't have charmeleon then, would you bring me on a trip like this again next time?" Konohamaru asked enthusiastically.

"Okay. I will. But you will have to get the Hokage's permission," Freya promised.

"Look we're here," Freya said, she pointed at the Hokage Tower.

They entered the hall at the bottom of the tower. There were several chuunins and jounins in there staring at the Freya's Pokemon and the creatures that they had brought in earlier.

They noticed Freya and Konohamaru. "Li-dono and Konohamaru-sama," a ninja with sunglasses came up to them.

"What are these? And that?" the man pointed at the collected defeated beasts and pointed at the beast that Freya was suspending in mid-air.

"Well, you see, Ebisu…" Konohamaru started.

The man, who was apparently called Ebisu, closed in, "U-huh…"

Konohamaru beckoned him to come closer. And he did. "It's….NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Konohamaru yelled into his ear.

Ebisu flinched. "Konohamaru-kun!" Freya said sternly, hitting him lightly on his head.

"Sorry! He was just being freaky!" Konohamaru pouted.

"And what did you and Freya here do?" an old voice sounded from behind.

Freya and Konohamaru turned around and saw the Sandaime.

"We finished an unofficial mission. I won't claim any reward for I merely used them for my training," Freya bowed down respectfully at her mentor.

"I know it's not your fault Freya. Bring up your head. On the other hand…Konohamaru…" the Hokage rounded on Konohamaru.

The young boy got on his knees and said, "I'm sorry grandpa! I won't do it again!"

"Actually, Konohamaru-kun helped me. I should've brought him back to you…" Freya said.

"Well, it's no hassle. I must say, it's very noble of you to not want the reward money…" the Hokage said, stroking his beard.

"Taking reward for an unofficial mission is against the law," Freya reasoned. Politics-loving Rouryuu had drilled that into her and Syaoran all the time before every mission.

"That's right…" the Hokage chuckled. "But now…what are we going to do with these?"

He pointed his pipe at the mountain of beasts.

"The Dragon Forest is for Pokemon only…" Freya said.

"Putting them into other forests can cause more trouble…" Konohamaru said.

"So we'll just put them in the Forest of Death!" another voice joined in the conversation.

They saw Anko standing there. "What?" she asked. "They are beasts after all…"

"I'll assign that to you then..." the Hokage stated to Anko.

"What? That's a hassle!" she said.

"You can ask some other ninjas to help you," the Hokage said.

"Come on Konohamaru. Your mother was looking for you. Freya, your brothers sent word that they were fine," the Hokage said.

"Okay then. I'll go home…" Freya said and she returned all her Pokemon into her their poke balls and left.

* * *

Gaara was standing on top of a branch on Kura's father's tree when he spotted someone.

"Li Freya…" he murmured.

Freya was going into the fields. And heading towards the Sakura tree. Gaara climbed up the tree a little higher.

Not noticing Gaara, Freya walked towards the tree and extended a hand towards its trunk and touched it.

"Good afternoon oto-san," Freya said gently.

'_Wait… did she say 'oto-san'?_' Gaara thought.

He waited there, not making a sound.

"Father, Me, Syao-nii and Rouryuu-nii are doing well. We all passed to the main test. It will be held one month later…you'll be with us watching us fight right?" Freya asked softly.

Gaara wondered what expression was on her face now. _'I thought this was that Kura girl's father's tree…why is this Li Freya calling it her father?'_ Gaara thought.

"I reconstructed Sasuke-kun's organs. I helped them function by transfusing chakra. Do you approve? Oto-san. The transfusion technique was developed by you right?" Freya continued.

'_She transfused chakra into Uchiha?_' he thought of the day when he was outside Sasuke's room listening by the window.

"Before the chuunin tests, oto-san, I met Gaara-chan. Although he does not look like it, Gaara-chan is a very nice person. Deep inside his heart, Gaara-chan is very lonely right? Ne, oto-san, bless Gaara-chan as well okay?" Freya said. With one last glance at the tree, Freya walked away.

'_Bless me? When was I ever nice to her?'_ he thought about the time before the chuunin tests. _'It was only that time when Kankuro tried to attack that little kid…when was I nicer to her?'_

"The tree's her father? I don't understand…" Gaara thought. Freya's last words echoed through his mind, _'Ne, oto-san, bless Gaara-chan as well okay?'_

"Why would a girl like her want to bless a monster like me?" Gaara said to himself. There was another person whom he thought would've blessed him as well…."Kura…"

* * *

It had been fifteen days since that day. Freya had encountered Gaara several times in her villager form, Kura and rarely encountered him in her ninja form.

"Had he been blessed yet? I wonder," Freya said to herself thinking about Gaara.

Gaara and she in her villager form had been acquainted with each other because they were always meeting each other at the flower fields.

'_He's opening up to me I guess…'_ she thought, smiling.

"The place is getting boring without Rouryuu-nii's talks about politics and Syao-nii's talking about his ice elemental control progress…" Freya said to her pikachu, referring to her home. She was with her pikachu. They had finished feeding the Pokemon in the den and greenhouse.

"Pika…pikachu (I agree)," her pikachu said.

Freya and her Pokemon had taken up missions in Konoha voluntarily for their training these past days. Her brothers had not come back from their training yet.

"I wonder how they are doing…" Freya said to herself.

* * *

(In the Hokage tower)

Rows of chuunins and jounins were seated in front of three senior people.

"What? Hayate was-?" Kakashi asked, widening his eyes in surprise.

"Yes, he was found by Kikyou castle in the morning that day," the Hokage said.

"Was the opponent Orochimaru?" Anko asked, with a serious expression.

"No, we can't make such an assumption. Most likely, Hayate must've been shadowing that sound spy, Kabuto. That Orochimaru must be up to something though…" Kakashi said.

"We must cancel the chuunin exams, with him on the loose," a chuunin with a scar on the side of his face said.

"No, he appeared to Anko here and requested for the exams to not be cancelled. This exam is among shinobi allies…" the Hokage said.

"What are you saying?" an elder wearing glasses beside the Hokage asked.

The Hokage turned his head to him and replied, "Orochimaru has the power to destroy a small country by himself. After being exiled, many countries have had their eyes on him."

"Plus, he coincidentally has a grudge against our village. Any country would want him as their ally…."

"Then no way! One of our allies has joined that guy and betrayed us?" the same ninja who suggested canceling the exams said.

Boredly, Kakashi turned his head and looked at him, "An alliance is just an agreement which is a verbal promise. Have you seen it prevent wars in the past?"

The Hokage said, "Anyway, we don't have any information about this right now. Let's not worry needlessly."

"We already have the ANBU members gathering information from other countries. We must be careful to not let the enemy use that…" an old lady on the Hokage's left said.

"I trust you guys…." The Hokage said, smirking at the chuunins and jounins who had stood up and half-bowed to him.

"If the time comes, we will assemble our strengths….and give it our all!" the Hokage said.

* * *

(In the mountains somewhere)

Kakashi was climbing up a mountain. "I must be getting too old for rock climbing..." Kakashi sighed.

His foot slipped and he regained footing just in time. He sighed and closed his eyes. His head suddenly pulsed as he nearly reached the top and he nearly fell off. A strong gust of wind blew below Kakashi sending him upwards and gently laid him on the ground.

"You okay? Kakashi?" a voice sounded.

Kakashi looked up and smirked, "Syaoran…"

"Sup? You took a long time so me and Sasuke here, started training together. No problem with that?" he asked.

Kakashi sat up and saw his student with a calm expression standing beside the grinning Syaoran. "You were training with Sasuke?" he asked.

"More like you were training me," Sasuke mumbled.

"Well, you okay Kakashi? You're still in your twenties aren't you? Not too old for rock climbing as I heard you say?" Syaoran cheekily said.

"You heard me huh?" Kakashi mumbled.

He remembered something, "Your sister. I've seen her in her villager form with the Gaara kid. She has been accepting missions for training. You sure it's okay leaving her alone in the village?"

Syaoran wiped the grin off his face as he heard Gaara's name, "That Gaara brat?" He clenched his fists.

"Yeah. They seemed to be on good terms with each other..." Kakashi said, rubbing his back.

Sasuke was also interested in hearing Gaara's name.

"What were they doing?" Syaoran asked.

"Well, they were at the tree your father planted. Don't worry, the kid was on top of the tree and your sister was at the bottom and they were just conversing that way…" Kakashi said.

'_Oops…have I said too much?'_ Kakashi thought.

Syaoran was emitting a dangerous aura and even Sasuke seemed to have gotten nervous.

"Where is Rouryuu?" he asked.

"Hasn't he told you that he was staying in the valley for twenty or so days?" Kakashi said.

"Right…" Syaoran said.

"Well, you should trust your sister. She can take care of herself, "Kakashi said.

"You're right…" Syaoran said.

'_Why are they so wary of Gaara? Speaking of which, I heard Lee got beaten pretty badly…._' Sasuke thought.

* * *

(At Konoha Hospital)

A pink haired girl sighed. "Where could've Sasuke gone?" a blonde said.

'_That's what I would like to know'_ Sakura thought, depressed.

"Sasuke left the hospital fifteen days ago during the night. He hasn't gotten complete approval to go on about his daily life from Freya-sama," a nurse said.

"That weird cat mask-girl Freya?" Ino asked.

Sakura nodded. "Yea...That girl…"

'_When did she become a doctor?'_ Sakura thought. She looked at the flower in her hand that she had brought for Sasuke.

"Isn't she a genin?" Ino asked. "Hey Sakura?"

Sakura was deep in thought and didn't hear what Ino was saying. Her mind was occupied by what Orochimaru said to her during the second test.

'_Sasuke will seek me for power…'_

'_Had he gone to seek for him?'_ Sakura thought worriedly.

'_No…I must trust Sasuke….surely he didn't go to that freak….'_

* * *

As the month ended, Freya's brothers, Rouryuu and Syaoran finally returned home from training.

In the greenhouse, Freya heard her brothers and greeted them, "Welcome back!"

"Freya! I heard that you and that Sabaku kid were usually seen together under otokoo's (father's) tree!" Rouryuu demanded from the doorway of the greenhouse.

Freya looked up from filling in food bowls and replied, "Yea. We were just talking about….things…"

"We told you not to go near him!" Syaoran protested.

"He didn't do anything wrong did he?" Freya retorted lightly.

'_If only she knew…'_ Syaoran and Rouryuu thought at the same time.

"In fact, Gaara-chan is a lonely sort of person. He is despised by his fellow villagers at home. His mother died when he was born. His childhood friend left him and his uncle betrayed him. I don't know about his siblings but his father treats him as a weapon just because he has something in him!" Freya said.

"Freya…." Rouryuu said looking at her.

"What has Gaara done to make people hate him so?" Freya said.

Freya walked out of the greenhouse and straight up to her room. She sat on her bed, deep in thought.

'_Why am I so worked up?'_ she thought sadly. _'What did Gaara-chan do wrong?'_

* * *

Little did she know, at that time…….

(At Konoha Hospital)

Naruto woke up. He looked around his surroundings and saw his friend, Shikamaru.

"Hey. You awake?" Shikamaru greeted.

"Where am I?" Naruto asked.

"What d'ya think? Hospital! You've been asleep for three days!" Shikamaru answered.

"Why are you here with me? Where is that ero-sennin?" Naruto asked sleepily.

"I came here to visit Chouji. After that, when I heard you were hear so….." Shikamaru explained.

"Huh? His injuries from the test were that serious?" Naruto asked, widening his eyes.

"Don't get me wrong. He ate so much meat after his fight that he injured his stomach…." Shikamaru said.

Naruto sat up laughing. "AHAHAHA! That's just like Chouji!"

"Heh… You aren't the type to have girls visit you so I took pity on you and visited you….." Shikamaru said.

"Oh yea…originally I came with this basket for Chouji but the doctor said 'no' so I thought we could eat it together…"

"Oh really?! Heh, Shikamaru, you're actually a pretty nice guy!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You idiot! It's just because I thought it would be a waste if the fruit got rotten….and besides, I took all that trouble to bring it here so…" Shikamaru said.

Naruto was chuckling with an evil look.

"What? You're freaking me out…" Shikamaru said looking at his friend with a weird expression.

"No..hehehe…we should eat it in front of Chouji!" Naruto said.

"You are seriously tiring me out…" Shikamaru drawled.

"Let's go!" Naruto said getting out of bed.

Shikamaru followed him out of the door to Chouji's room. As they were walking they saw a door to a room open.

* * *

Gaara went into Rock Lee's room and remembered the fight they had. He remembered when he was aobut to kill Lee, gai had jumped in to stop him.

Gaara grabbed his head. _'Why? Why did he save him?'_ he thought.

He walked over to Lee's bed and put his right hand over Lee's face. Sand was twirling around both of them. The sand that Gaara was manipulating creeped up, covering Lee's body and face slowly.

Gaara slowly started clenching his fist. Slowly, slowly and…..

He widened his eyes. _'I can't move…my body…' _he thought.

Someone ran up and punched him in his cheek. '_Naruto….'_ He thought.

"Oww!" another voice exclaimed.

"What are you doing here bastard?" Naruto demanded angrily.

"Hey Naruto, when I'm using the Shadow Copy technique, I'll feel the same as him…" Shikamaru said.

"Sorry Shikamaru…" Naruto apologized.

Gaara glared at them.

"What are you up to?" Naruto demanded.

"What were you trying to do to Fuzzy Brows?" Naruto shouted.

"I was trying to kill him..." Gaara said emotionlessly looking at Naruto with a cold stare.

'_How can he be so clam? I have him trapped in my jutsu!'_ Shikamaru thought.

"Why is there a need to kill him? You won against him already? Have you a personal grudge?" Shikamaru demanded as well.

"No I do not. I was just trying to kill him because I want to…" Gaara replied.

"What are you saying you bastard!?" Naruto asked, pointing at him.

"You must have had a messed up childhood….how can you be so self-centered?" Shikamaru said.

'_Messed up childhood huh? What do you know?'_ Gaara thought.

"If you get in my way, I'll kill you too…" Gaara said dangerously.

"Go ahead and try!" Naruto provoked.

"Stop Naruto…" Shikamaru said.

"We know from your fight that you are strong but….we're not too bad ourselves either. We didn't show any of our 'special moves' yet" Shikamaru bluffed.

"Plus, it's two on one so you're at a disadvantage. If you listen to what we say, we'll let you leave quietly…" he added.

"I'll say it again…get in my way, I'll kill you as well…" Gaara repeated.

'_This guy…'_ Shikamaru thought.

"I won't get killed by the likes of you!" Naruto shouted pointing at him.

"Stop provoking him Naruto! His strength is like a monster's!" Shikamaru said, holding Naruto back.

"I don't care! I have a real monster in me and I won't lose to that freak!" Naruto said, still pointing at Gaara.

'_Monster huh?'_ Gaara thought.

"A monster eh?" Gaara said.

Naruto and Shikamaru looked at him surprised.

Gaara continued, closing his eyes. "As you said, I had a messed up childhood. I was born into this world taking the life of the person I would've called my 'mother'. To become the ultimate weapon of our village, the incarnation of the sand monster was put into me through a jutsu by my father. **I was born a monster**."

"Wha-" Naruto said. He had an amazed expression. Shikamaru also had the same expression.

'_Incarnation of the sand monster?_' Shikamaru thought.

"Called Shuukaku, it was sealed in a kettle. It is the living spirit of an old hidden sand priest…" Gaara said glaring dangerously at the two friends.

"Huh, a possession jutsu that allows one to be possessed before birth….to go that far…that's just plain crazy…" Shikamaru said.

'_He also has something in him?'_ Naruto thought.

"……" Gaara stared at them silently.

"Heh? That's something a parent would do? What kind of expression of love is that?" Shikamaru said.

"Love…" Gaara said. He momentarily forgot all about Kura's (Freya) words.

"Don't judge me with your measuring stick…family…do you know what kind of connection that is to me?" Gaara asked.

Shikamaru and Naruto looked at him in surprise.

"They're simply pieces of flesh, blood and bones, connected to me with murderous intent and hatred," Gaara continued.

"By sacrificing my mother's life, I was created as the village's masterpiece. As the Kazekage's son. My father taught me all the Shinobi secrets. I was spoiled and allowed to do as I like…..I thought that was love…." Gaara opened his eyes. "……"

"Until that incident occurred….and those two people….." Gaara said quietly. He thought about it.

"That incident?" Naruto asked. "What is it? What happened?"

Suddenly, Gaara had a strange, murderous smile on his face.

"For the last six years since I was six years old…my own father has tried countless attempts to murder me…"

"But you just said he spoiled you!" Shikamaru protested. "What do you mean?"

"Being too strong, you can become an existence of fear….born through a stupid jutsu, my own spirit was unstable. It seems as if the idiots in my village finally realized that there was a problem. To my father, I was recognized as the village's trump card."

"But he knew I was also a dangerous being. By the time I was six, I was ranked, 'too dangerous'. As the village's dangerous tool, I was only being used with a lot of care. To them, I was only an object from the past that they wish would just disappear and never had come into being."

"Then why do I exist? Why am I alive? When I thought about this, I could find no answer. But when you live, you need a reason. Otherwise, it's the same as being dead…."

"What's he talking about?" Shikamaru muttered.

'_I can understand what he's talking about…_' Naruto thought in realization.

"I found relief in the fear of death. As I continued killing the assassins that came after me, I finally realized, I live to kill all other humans besides me. This is my conclusion. You fight for only yourself and love only yourself. If you think that other people exists for you to feel that, nothing is better in the world. As long as there are other people like that for me in the world, then I will continue living………"

"After all……**I live to kill**……."

Suddenly, Kura's (Freya) picture came into his mind.

"……."

* * *

Author's note:This is my longest chap yet! Was it too long? I hope not…..I can't touch the computer for the next sixty days or so…..(Cries) Well, hope you liked this chappie! R&R please! PS: I finally realized that the ruled lines I added when I was typing the story wasn't added when it was uploaded. I finally learned to insert it in the preview document state.

Yours,

Mew Kohaku…..


	10. Chapter 10

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon! I only own some of the characters here and the only ccs characters I'm using is Li Syaoran & his sisters & his mother! (Also it contains some spoilers for some Naruto episodes!)

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 10

Syaoran knocked at a red mahogany door with a gold plate with the name 'Rouryuu' engraved on it in kanji. Rouryuu opened the door, looking very harrased.

"D'ya think we said too much just now?" Rouryuu asked, letting his brother in.

"Maybe... But why would she protect that kid so much?" Syaoran said, referring the 'she' to his sister and 'that kid' to Gaara.

"Well, they **did** get acquainted with each other while we left her here alone. Maybe he doesn't show his bad side to her, " Rouryuu said, sitting down on a sofa. "Freya **did** say that he had some problems…"

"I guess we are at fault too somehow… we're telling her to stay away from him when we have not even told her the reason **why**," Syaoran said.

"Lets go apologize to her…"Rouryuu said, heading out of the room. Syaoran followed him.

* * *

Freya was sitting outside on the East veranda of the Li manor. The shining pond outside reflected in her fiery orbs. _'I was quite unreasonable in the greenhouse just now…'_ Freya thought.

'_But Gaara-chan didn't do anything wrong did he?'_

'_Why do Rouryuu-nii and Syaoran-nii oppose to us being friends so much?'_

If only Freya knew…

"Freya!" she heard two male voices call out.

Freya turned to the right and saw her brothers walking towards her with sheepish expressions.

'_I might just as well go and apologize…'_ Freya thought. She got up and walked towards her brothers.

"Listen Freya…" Rouryuu started to say.

"I'm really sorry for my difficult behavior!" Freya said, bowing her head in apology. (A/n: Gee, if only my brothers were like that to each other…)

Rouryuu touched her shoulder and said, "It's our fault for not telling you our reasons…"

"We were also being unreasonable, stopping you from befriending someone," Syaoran added, scratching his head.

"And furthermore, we left you here alone and disappeared for almost a month…I guess _Sabaku_ kept you company…" Rouryuu said, saying 'Sabaku' a little grudgingly.

"We both wanted to apologize," Syaoran explained. He looked over at his older brother and Rouryuu nodded.

Freya smiled a million dollar smile and said, "I don't think it's your fault but I'll accept your apology."

Rouryuu grinned and said enthusiastically, "All right! Now, can we have some of those sweets you promised almost a month ago?"

Syaoran sweat dropped. Freya nodded and led the way to the kitchen.

While eating, the Li siblings told each other about their respective trainings. Freya suddenly remembered something and said, "Wait here, I have to go get something…"

Freya exited the dining room and went up to her room with pikachu behind her. She entered her room and walked to her study desk. On the desk, there were three pendants fastened on their own individual chains. The pendants were made of clear crystal with cloudy red patterns in it.

One of the pendants was shaped like a hawk's head with the name 'Rouryuu" imprinted on it in blue. Another was shaped like a wolf's head with the name 'Syaoran" imprinted on it in green. Freya took those two in her hand and put the last one in her pocket.

She went back downstairs and into the dining room. Freya went to each of her brothers and fastened the respective chains around their necks.

"Fre-" Rouryuu took up the pendant and inspected it closer. Syaoran did the same.

"I hate to say this but I don't wear blood…" Syaoran said, referring to the red pattern in the pendant.

"It's got your blood in it!" Rouryuu said.

"According to the scroll, it wouldn't work if the creator's blood isn't in it," Freya retorted.

Syaoran sighed. "All right but why did you make these?" he pointed at his pendant and Rouryuu's with both his hands.

"That's because the finals are tomorrow and I wanted to wish you luck in some way…" Freya answered.

'_And because I have this strange ominous feeling…'_ Freya thought privately.

The two brothers looked at each other for awhile. Finally Rouryuu spoke up, "Thanks Freya…"

Syaoran nodded, "Aa…"

Freya said, "It's okay…"

"But…we have not made anything for you…" Rouryuu said, scratching his head.

Freya shook her head, 'No, by being great brothers to me, its already a gift enough to last a lifetime…"

Syaoran and Rouryuu couldn't help but smile.

"I'm going to see oto-san now," Freya said as she exited the dining room and removing her mask. She went upstairs to change out of her clothes.

"Be back in time for dinner!" Syaoran called after her.

"He meant, be back in time to _**make **_dinner!" Rouryuu called as well.

"Hey!" Syaoran protested.

His brother shrugged, "It's the truth…"

"Anyway, she must be going there to meet that kid too," Rouryuu said, spearing a cake with his fork, imagining the poor cake to be Gaara.

"Why does Freya li—" Syaoran stopped short. "L-li-li"

Rouryuu started choking. "Have you realized that our little sister might…well…_**like**_ that kid?"

Syaoran had a look of terror on his face. "I don't even wanna think about it."

"Does the kid even have any feelings?" Rouryuu wondered. "He might be one of those types to charm girls and dismiss them afterwards…"

"Are you sure you're not talking about yourself? Besides, as Freya had said, he has a monster within him and according to me, he's just a hard, cold emotionless shell," Syaoran answered.

"Hey! I happen to charm girls **unknowingly **and I do not dismiss them! I just say 'what makes you think I'm interested in girls?' and they think the wrong way so what am I supposed to do?" Rouryuu said.

"Besides, we shouldn't jump to conclusions Syao, we might be wrong about Freya liking Gaara," Rouryuu added.

And the brothers left it at that.

* * *

Dressed in her villager identity, Freya walked up to her father's tree. As usual, she could see her friend standing on a branch on the tree.

"Gaara-chan! Could you come down for a moment?" Freya called.

Gaara was quite surprised but he had a light breezy feeling in his stomach at the same time. This was the first time Kura (Freya) had ever called him to come down. For the past month Gaara had felt strange inside. He always went to the Sakura tree, in hopes on encountering Kura (Freya) and getting acquainted with her. She was quite an interesting person.

Gaara wondered why she never did talk about where she lived. Slowly, he descended the tree, and for the third time, stood in front of her. Gaara realized for the first time that he was a head full taller than her.

Kura's (Freya) height barely reached his shoulder. Suddenly, she reached around his neck and fastened something around it. Gaara widened his eyes in surprise at her sudden movement.

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly.

Freya pointed at the object around his neck and replied, "I made this especially for you. You're participating in the chuunin finals tomorrow right? I won't take it back even if you don't want it."

Gaara looked down at what she was pointing at and saw a pendant. Fastened onto a chain, the pendant was also made of clear crystal with a red cloudy pattern in it. It was in a shape of a dragon and imprinted on it in Kura's (Freya's) writing in red ink, was his name, Gaara.

"What's this?" he asked. Surprisingly, he could smell the faint scent of blood.

"It's a pendant made from the combination of two kinds of ices. I made it for you, Gaara-chan. Well, after the exams, I'll tell what the red thing in it is. The dragon is shaped from my family's dragon deity," Freya explained.

Which was…kind of true.

"Dragon deity? Your family has one?" Gaara asked quietly.

Freya thought for a while and replied, "Yea…"

'_I don't know much about this Kura person's background after almost a month of getting to know her…'_ the red haired sand nin thought to himself.

Kura's (Freya's) voice interrupted his thoughts, "I made this for you by myself. It is believed in my family that the creator's feelings could be trapped in it. I wanted you to be safe and wanted to wish you luck, so I made this."

"You want to protect me?" Gaara asked slowly.

"Since, well, I can't physically protect you, with that necklace, part of me will _always _be with you," Freya said truthfully.

"Tomorrow, I'll watch your fight too, Gaara-chan," she said again, truthfully.

'She'll be watching me?' Gaara thought. He looked at the pendant .

Gaara looked up to say something, but she was gone. The sand ninja looked over at the entrance where Kura (Freya) usually came from and saw her walking out of the fields.

'_She wants to protect me huh?'_ Gaara thought touching the pendant lightly.

* * *

Author: Yup! Finals are over! (Rejoices with happy tears) Marks are great! AND Over October, I've filled in one and an eight of exercise books (smiles) This chap may seem not much BUT…..a very big 'but' it's just that I didn't want you readers to feel bored reading a super long chap like the previous one so I'm trying to cut them into short chapters if possible. Ciao! R&R PLS!

AND SPECIAL THANKS TO LADY AMAZON :D & SAKURA-PICHU16296

YOURS,

MEWKOHAKU


	11. Chapter 11

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon! I only own some of the characters here and the only ccs characters I'm using is Li Syaoran & his sisters & his mother! (Also it contains some spoilers for some Naruto episodes!)

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 11

The next day, Freya woke up earlier. She dressed and hurriedly went down to make breakfast. Today was the day of the chuunin finals. Freya set out the bowls of food for her Pokemon, as well as her brothers'.

Just as she finished putting breakfast on the dining table, her brothers came in with their Pokemon, carrying empty boxes of food. They had been to the den and greenhouse to feed the Pokemon.

"Morning!" Rouryuu greeted as he slipped into his seat. Freya replied back and also greeted her other brother.

The siblings finished up and with masks in, they headed off towards the arena together. Konoha's streets were full of life, cheer and activity. It was noisier than usual as the lords, ministers and officials of other countries paraded into the streets, heading for the arena as well.

To avoid the traffic caused, the siblings floated in the air at a good distance to look at the procession while heading to the arena. Instead of going through the main doors, the three of them flew in through the opening in the space above and directly to the balcony where their mentor, the Third Hokage, was seated.

They got on their knees and bowed their heads respectfully at him. "Good morning, Sarutobi-sensei," the siblings chorused.

The Hokage nodded is head in reply. He took his pipe out of his mouth and said, "Fight fair and well during this match. Do me proud."

"And…don't underestimate your enemies," he said. He reached into his robes and took out four wooden boards which were cut into small rectangular shapes.

He gave one to Rouryuu. On it, in the Hokage's writing, it said _**'dignity'**_ in kanji symbols. The Hokage also gave one to Syaoran which said '_**determination'**_ in kanji symbols as well. On Freya's board, it said _**'compassion'.**_

He gave the fourth and last one to Freya as well and said, "Keep it for me and after today, hand it over to Konohamaru." The siblings tucked away the boards, wondering why he had given them those boards.

"I sent one bigger one over to your mansion for the Li Dojo by the way," the Hokage said.

"You may go assemble now…"

The siblings nodded and got up to leave.

"When I'm gone, I'll still always be here, remember that," the Hokage said suddenly out of the blue.

The siblings looked at each other, confused. Not saying anything, they headed to the point where the other ninjas were assembling. They went up to Genma, a senior ninja who had a thin needle-like stick in his mouth and who wore his protector as a hat of some sort.

"I didn't see you three enter," he stated flatly.

"Hmm…didn't you learn in ninja academy that you're supposed to be alert in all directions? Even if it means above?" Rouryuu asked.

Ignoring this, Genma answered, "You could've used the doors."

"Entering from above ain't against the law. You see-" Rouryuu started.

"Okay, okay hotshot. I don't want a lecture on law _again_. I'm pretty familiar with your law talk and all…," Genma said, holding up his hand.

Freya giggled and Syaoran smirked. Apparently not the least baffled, Rouryuu asked Genma, "Got yourself a girlfriend yet?"

"None of your business. I heard that you were saying you're not interested in girls?" Genma countered.

"I'm not homo dude. I'm just not interested in a relationship," Rouryuu said. "Shall I introduce you to one of my admirers?"

"I don't need your help and if you would excuse me, I've got other work to do," Genma said, avoiding the subject of his girlfriend-less state. He walked away.

"Pleased to have met you again so soon!" Rouryuu called after him, holding up his hand.

"He might disqualify you," Syaoran said. "He **is** playing ref after all..."

"Hah! I would like to see him do that! That's against the ninja code, or if not, the law, or rules for the exams," Rouryuu smirked, folding is arms.

_'He really loves politics...' _Freya thought to herself, sweat-dropping.

"Ne, Rouryuu-nii, why aren't you interested in relationships?" Freya questioned innocently.

"You see Freya, I may be a combat-loving type like Syao over here...but, I love politics, or if not, peace, as well," Rouryuu started.

_'Combat-loving...like Gaara-chan mentioned about himself and Kankuro-san...' _Freya thought, thinking of her red-haired friend.

"Anyway, frankly speaking, my type of girl would be a type that has respect for politics and has a love for peace between countries," Rouryuu continued.

"And one might think you would be a scholar who wore glasses and all..." Syaoran muttered.

"Whatever. You see Freya, I see **NO** girl who loves politics and peace between countries. They simply **do. not. care.** ," Rouryuu said.

"But I do care! I hate wars......a lot!" Freya protested strongly.

"Well, it would be incest for me to love you in a lovers way," Rouryuu said.

"But I love you! And Syao-nii , Fuutie-nee, Fanren-nee-" Freya started to say.

"That's family love. I mean like as in husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend. Family love is a totally different thing and the love I'm talking about is different," Rouryuu explained.

"How come you know that?" Syaoran questioned.

His older brother shrugged. "I figured it out...ya know....books...."

Freya nodded, indicating that she understood. "So how do you know you love someone and it's not the family type?"

"According to another book, it said that you would always think of that person, care a lot about that person, want to protect that person and so on..." Rouryuu said.

By now, more of the competitors were coming in.

"I see..." Freya echoed, wearing an interested look on her innocent face.

Syaoran sighed and slapped his head, shaking it.

"What kind of education is this?" he asked himself.

Freya felt a familiar presence. She turned around and saw him. Gaara.

_'Gaara-chan...' _she thought. She could see the chain she had given him around his neck. The pendant was tucked under his shirt, out of sight.

She looked over at her brothers who were discussing about something. Their pendant were not out of sight like Gaara's.

"And so you see, girls nowadays don't really give a toss about peace," Rouryuu said to Syaoran.

"Not necessarily," another voice interrupted. "Don't talk trash about us girls. Apparently, I **do** care about peace as well."

The siblings saw the owner of the voice standing there, smirking. Temari.

"Well, **she**, I will make an exception. I don't feel anything towards her," Rouryuu informed is siblings.

"My name's not 'she'. What makes you think **I** like **you** anyway?" Temari glared at him. " 'Sides, I don't think you're cute at all. Your attitude seems to say it all."

"Of course you don't, you haven't seen my face before have you?" Rouryuu retorted. " I haven't shown you my nicer side anyway. Girls could go crazy over me."

"Why do you wear masks anyway?" Temari asked, curiously.

"We always have been wearing masks since we became ninjas. We barely take off our masks," Syaoran answered quickly for his brother. Freya immediately nodded vigorously.

"Hi Temari-san!" Freya greeted cheerfully.

Temari simmered down a little and returned the greeting.

"Sorry about Rouryuu-nii's rudeness," Freya apologized. She cast a sideway glance at Gaara who was looking at her.

"I was being honest!" Rouryuu said, with a hint of obvious protest in his voice.

Ignoring her brother, Freya said, "It's been a while since I saw you Temari-san."

"Yes, well, me too I guess..." Temari replied.

"Anyway, your brother said you guys barely took off your masks. So how can girls go crazy over Rouryuu while they do not know how he looks like?" Temari asked.

Problem. Freya couldn't tell her the girls went crazy over him when he was in his villagers' identity.

"Well...you see...umm..." Freya scanned Rouryuu who was looking at her. "That's it! Right! The girls love his muscly figure!"

"You make it sound like I've got curves! You could at least say, you know, mysterious charm?" Rouryuu muttered.

Temari looked over at him. His muscled body was well-toned and he had a lean figure.

"The girls must be weird," Temari stated flatly.

"Um...I guess," Freya said.

"Well I'll not bother you anymore. I just wanted to state that there **are** girls who care about peace,"Temari said glancing over at her own brother who were standing in the shadows.

'Well, good luck Temari-san," Freya said.

_'That girl...I still can't figure out why she calls that tree her 'father', ' _Gaara thought, looking at Freya. He leaned against the wall, arms folded and thought about it. _'That Kura girl said it was __**her**__ own father's tree....'_

The main doors opened and people started filling the audience bleachers. Gaara scanned the crowd with utmost attention.

_'Kura...' _he thought.

(Flashback) (A/N: Since I didn't want anymore readers' confusions, I've decided that when Freya is in her villager's identity, Kura, I'll make her name bold)

"_Since I can't physically protect you, with that necklace, part of me will always be with you," **Freya **said truthfully._

"_Tomorrow, I'll watch your fight too, Gaara-chan,"_

(End of Flashback)

'Today huh?' Gaara thought about his pendant.

Everything went quiet as the Hokage delivered his speech. Suddenly, Naruto got thrown in. Everyone stared at him. Genma went over and lectured him. Naruto scratched his head and started explaining. After letting the audience see their faces, the candidates went up to the waiting area, letting the first round begin.

Genma announced that Dosu had withdrawn and now, Shikamaru was to fight against Temari. Shikamaru grumbled. The first match was Naruto against last year's best ninja rookie, Hyuuga Neji, a prodigy of the Hyuuga clan. After a breathtaking match, Naruto finally won and it was Syaoran's turn against ninja from the rain village.

Syaoran jumped down as his name was called. As he did so, his crystal pendant from Freya glimmered in the sun. Gaara's eyes caught a look at it.

_'Isn't that...' _he thought, his eyebrows furrowing.

He looked over at Rouryuu. Sure enough, he had something similar as the pendant Kura (Freya) had given him. He looked at Freya as well. Strangely, she had nothing like the pendant around her neck. Instead, he saw a familiar bell choker.

_'She has no pendant but that choker looks strangely familiar....' _Gaara thought.

He looked over at Rouryuu. _'What's his connection with Kura (Freya)?' _He turned his attention to Syaoran's match.

Genma signaled for the match to start. Syaoran took a step backwards, blocking punches as his opponent lunged at him.

He smirked. "Rain huh? Isn't that water?"

His opponent, Ame Yaruki, sent a whirlpool thundering towards him.

"Good. I've been mastering a new technique for a month just for this. You're pretty lucky. You're the first person who I'm going to use this new technique against," Syaoran said. " Elemental Blade!"

With his elemental control, he split the whirlpool and made it form a barrier around Yaruki. Using his right palm, he drew a circle in the air and muttered, " Freeze!"

In and instance, the water barrier, froze and turned into and ice barrier. His opponent was trapped.

"He mastered the ice element huh?" Rouryuu commented.

Freya nodded in agreement, "He did..."

Yaruki however, didn't look the least troubled. "I can penetrate the ice."

"Oh really? You do that," Syaoran urged, nodding.

Thinking Syaoran was being sarcastic, Yaruki twirled and formed a human whirlpool, breaking the ice into a million pieces. For Syaoran, that wasn't the end. In mid air, the fragments of broken ice shards started swirling around, forming a breezy and furious tornado.

Now, Yaruki was trapped again, this time, in a more damaging tornado. Syaoran conjured up some wind and merged it with the already deadly tornado. Making it more faster and stronger.

After a few minutes, Syaoran held up his right hand and the tornado stopped.

"That's a very good tactic," the Kazekage muttered to the Hokage. "Your student is very cunning..."

The Hokage nodded. "That's right, pretty clever, like a wolf. Just like his given name."

The tornado cleared, to reveal Syaoran's opponent who had fallen. His opponent had suffered cuts on his body from the ice shards earlier.

Yaruki got up and said a technique. Water shaped like a serpent shot out from under his sleeve. The water serpent wrapped itself quickly around around Syaoran and proceeded to strangle him to death.

AS the serpent got tighter, Syaoran looked like he couldn't breathe. Suddenly, as the opponent's serpent tightened around him again, Syaoran;s body dissolved into water.

"What?!?" Yaruki was surprised. He looked around for Syaoran.

"Up and around...." Syaoran's voice echoed.

"You never look down!" Li's fifth secret! Underground eruption!" the ground that Yaruki was standing on suddenly erupted.

Syaoran emerged from underground and hit his opponent squarely in the jaw. His opponent was thrown backwards. But the rain genin stubbornly got up, staggering.

"You used a water cloned and an underground surprise attack huh?" his opponent said, smirking and wiping the blood from his mouth.

"Obviously. But man, you're really persistent. I'll have to use this then..." Syaoran said. His forehead protector which was worn on his forehead and slanted to the left, covering his left ear, was put straight.

On the top part of his ear, was a clasp piercing. The piercing was made of silver with engravings o it. Right in the middle of the piercing was a glowing ruby.

"Isn't that?" Freya asked Rouryuu.

Rouryuu nodded. "That's right. Syaoran was unfortunately born during the time when the fire dragon's spirit was unstable. Several fragments of the fire dragon's spirit went into his body and merged with his chakra. Thus, giving him control of several elements. However, since it was the fire dragon's spirit, Syaoran's control of fire was pretty much unstable."

"Few years after his birth, he set part of the Li territory on fire. After that accident, Syaoran was given that piercing to control his use of fire. That gem there, can also help him use part of the fire dragon's powers since that ruby was one of the fire dragon's drops of blood."

"Fire dragon's technique, Fire illusion!" Syaoran formed hand signs.

His opponent went on his knees at once and held his head in his hands and started screaming. "It's hot! I'm burning!"

After a few agonizing screams, he fainted.

"Ahh...did I overdo it?" Syaoran pulled his forehead protector over his left ear again and straightened his mask.

The rain ninja did not get up again. The spectators cheered as the medical team came to take the fallen Yaruki away and Genma declared Syaoran winner.

_'Actually, that kid is better than he looks...' _Kankuro thought grudgingly.

"Next match is Chiosuke Haki from the hidden grass village against a ninja from Konoha village-," Genma looked at Rouryuu grudgingly.

Rouryuu folded his arms and said, nodding, "Be a good man and call my name."

"I'm telling you, he wouldn't dare disqualify me," Rouryuu told his sister.

"Li Rouryuu!" Genma finished.

"Told you so," Rouryuu smirked, satisfied. form where he was comfortably perched on the railing, Rouryuu tightened his scroll and jumped down to face his opponent.

"Let's get this done and over with." Haki said. Haki was a male shinobi who was much bigger in size than Rouryuu. "I can defeat you in no time."

Rouryuu smirked to himself. "Oh? Haven't you learned from my sister's fight? Never underestimate your enemies."

" 'Sides," Rouryuu continued shrugging. "It's been my first time in years of being a genin to actually attempt this test because of a certain_** someone**_." He shot an accusing look at the Hokage.

The Hokage caught his look. He looked around and directly at his student. He did a 'peace' sign and grinned smugly.

Roruyuu saw that and it tweaked a nerve. " I asked you why and you never answered..." he muttered to himself.

He turned around to face Haki and said, "Listen, I don't care what you say but I really don't want to disappoint my _'wonderful' _sensei."

"The match starts now!" Genma declared, bringing his hand down.

Haki held two big beans in his hands with long vines growing out of them.

"Bean whips? Right, you are a plant user. Judging form your fight, you're a pretty fast guy, despite your size...." Rouryuu said.

"Quit talking so much!" Haki growled at him and lashed his whips out at Rouryuu.

"You're quite the impatient person huh?" Rouryuu commented, jumping out of the way.

The grass ninja started lashing his beans at and extreme speed.

'Hmm...I'll have to be careful or my mask could be hit off...' Rouryuu thought, repeatedly dodging the attacks.

Rouryuu jumped back a distance, unravelled his scroll and summoned two big fans.

_'He's a wind user huh?' _Temari thought, smirking. _'Let's see how good he is...' _

Rouryuu opened both his fans, one in each hand and pointed them sideways.

"Oh, you planning to fly off like a little birdie?" Haki said, stopping his attacks.

"I can do that...maybe..." Rouryuu said. He suddenly raised his arms and launched the fans at his opponent.

His opponent dodged the fans. Haki smirked and said, "Using fans as shurikens? That's pathetic!"

"Riiiiiight...." Rouryuu said with a dismissive wave.

"What?!?" Infuriated, Haki once again, launched his whips at Rouryuu but Rouryuu disappeared. He reappeared beside Haki and muttered briefly in his ear before disappearing again, "Behind you..."

Haki turned around and saw Rouryuu's fans coming at him at an alarming rate. The two fans snapped shut as they collided against Haki and were thrown back into Rouryuu's hands.

The grass ninja who was thrown off his feet quickly got up and lashed his bean whips repeatedly at Rouryuu.

Rouryuu dodged his attacks repeatedly and shielded some with his fans. Suddenly a whip hit the tip of the right ear of Rouryuu's mask and his mask came off, also throwing Rouryuu off his feet.

Freya and Syaoran gasped.

* * *

Author: Yes, I know....cliffie! LOL I know, I'm mean (Smiles) What's gonna happen? Well, was it too short? Or too long? Was it interesting? Please send reviews to give me motivation! Merry Christmas people!

-Yours, MewKohaku


	12. Chapter 12

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon! I only own some of the characters here and the only ccs characters I'm using is Li Syaoran & his sisters & his mother! (Also it contains some spoilers for some Naruto episodes!)

* * *

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 12

The Hokage widened his eyes and gripped the armrest of his chair as he saw what happened to Rouryuu.

"His mask came off!" Kankuro exclaimed in disbelief.

_'Hmm... in this case, what should I do? Think hard Rouryuu!' _Rouryuu thought to himself. He faced downwards and kept his head down.

_'If I don't look up now, I won't be able to fight. My mask was thrown quite a distance away too....'_

_'Rouryuu!' _Rouryuu heard a familiar voice intrude his mind.

_'It's me, Sarutobi. Freya helped me enter your mind. Don't worry about your mask, just get on with your fighting. Fight without Rouryuu....' the Hokage thought._

'All right, if you say so....' Smirking, Rouryuu lazily got up, lifted up his head, and looked at Haki in the eye.

"Once again, let me introduce myself. Li Rouryuu, sixteen years old. Rank, currently genin," Rouryuu bowed with a flourish.

_'Idiot...' the Sandaime thought._

"Look! Isn't that Ryuu?"

"Isn't that guy Ryuu?"

"I thought Ryuu was and apprentice farmer, not a ninja!"

"No wonder he's so good in the fields!"

The villagers of Konoha were talking amongst themselves at the revelation of Rouryuu's true identity.

_"So, his name's really Rouryuu? Rouryuu from _**_the Li _**_Clan?!?" a citizen said with a hint of disbelief in his voice._

"Honestly, making such a big fuss...." Rouryuu muttered.

He looked over at the balcony above where all the other ninjas were waiting and called up to Temari, "Hey! That Sabaku girl! What do you think of my appearance?"

Gaara quietly studied Rouryuu's face intently. It reminded him of someone.

Syaoran shook his head , "Honestly... that Rouryuu...."

_ Temari was at loss for words. 'I didn't know he was a hottie! But, judging from the screaming villagers in the crowds..... that was what that ref must've meant about Rouryuu.....'_

She smirked at the boy instead, "Shouldn't you be concentrating on your fight?"

_'Right....' Rouryuu thought. His opponent dashed at him, bean whips ready to lash out at Rouryuu._

* * *

(In the audience)

_'Where is Sasuke-kun?' Sakura thought anxiously. Mind preoccupied with thoughts of her ebony-haired friend, Sakura hadn't noticed that one of her other friends had his mask taken off._

"No way! Did you see that Sakura? That guy, Li Rouryuu is pretty hot!" Ino exclaimed excitedly to Sakura.

Ino's words jolted Sakura back into reality. She became alert. "What? What happened to his mask?"

_"Obviously, it came off? Weren't you watching?" Ino folded her arms and huffed. "Anyway, I wonder if he would go out with me.... of course, I _**_still_**_ am Sasuke's destined......"_

Sakura did not pay heed to Ino's words.

_'This is bad... ,' Sakura thought looking at the Hokage himself. 'I never knew why, but the Sandaime told me, Naruto and Sasuke-kun that their identities should never be revealed to the public.....'_

'This is bad... very bad... what if that guy, Orochimaru recognizes him?' the Hokage thought seriously. He watched his subordinate fight without his trusty mask.

_'That boy....' the Kazekage thought. He looked at Freya and Syaoran across the arena and smirked. 'I see... so that's it...'_

* * *

(Back to the match)

_'That guy.... he reminds me of someone....' _Gaara thought. _'But who? I know I've seen that face _**somewhere**_ before....'_

Gaara thought of the possibilities of who Rouryuu reminded him of.

Haki sent a flurry of vegetation at Rouryuu. Lifting up his right arm, Rouryuu swiped them away with a sharp burst of wind.

"I'm getting annoyed. He keeps using the same tactics over and over...." Rouryuu sighed. "All right, let's finish this..."

He rolled out his large scroll and the fans in his hands disappeared with a puff. Biting his thumb, he drew his thumb across the scroll and slammed his palm onto it. The scroll shined and exploded. Three magnificent blades appeared in Rouryuu's hands.

Rouryuu leaped backwards and yelled out loud, " The third Li secret! Triple hurricane!"

He started a string of fast movements with three of the swords, slashing the air. Very soon, Rouryuu had created three rather large hurricanes which spun towards Haki. Haki was not quick enough to avoid Rouryuu's furious hurricanes. He got swallowed in as soon as he got caught in the edge.

After the hurricanes had subsided, it revealed Haki who was badly battered, bruised and overall, injured.

"He really likes finishing fights like these with a flourish," Syaoran told Freya. His younger sibling nodded in agreement.

AS the medical team came to retrieve Haki, Genma walked up to Rouryuu and handed him his mask.

"Humph.. tough luck... show-off..." Genma muttered, smirking mischievously.

"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you," Rouryuu took his mask from Genma.

Grudgingly, Genma lifted Rouryuu's right arm up and declared, "Li Rouryuu of Konoha is the winner!"

The audience cheered enthusiastically while shouts of Rouryuu's alias in the village, "Ryuu!" could be heard.

_'I wonder what's gonna happen now....'_ all three Li siblings thought at the same time.

The three of them looked at their mentor.

Rouryuu walked back up to the waiting area, twirling his mask with his right index finger and hoisting his scroll on his left shoulder.

When he got there, the other candidates were staring at him.

"Hmm... did you know, I could call that visual harassment and as we all know, harassing is pretty much against the law," Rouryuu informed them, lifting his left index finger up.

"Rouryuu-nii!" Freya started in a warning tone.

"Sorry..." Rouryuu said.

Syaoran came up to them and said in a low voice, "What do you think is gonna happen now?"

"I dunno. The Hokage never told us **_why_** we had to wear masks..." his brother replied shrugging.

"Whatever the reason is, it must be pretty serious..." Freya said. "Well, it's my turn to fight now. See you later, Rouryuu-nii, Syaoran-nii."

'Aa..." the two brothers said at the same time nodding. "Good luck."

Gaara studied Rouryuu's features more intently than ever. Something at the back of his mind bugged him when he looked at Rouryuu.

'Those features really remind me of someone....' Gaara thought.

The red head diverted his thoughts away from Rouryuu as Genma announced the next round.

"This round is Miniko Ichida of Konoha against a fellow ninja, Li Freya!" Genma announced.

The two of the said combatants stepped into the arena and faced each other.

"Pity about your brother's identity......" Ichida said to her.

"I know, but all is not lost," Freya said wisely.

"Why do you wear masks anyway?" Ichida asked curiously.

Freya smiled to herself. "To tell the truth, we do not really know the reason as well. Our sensei made us wear them since we were very young."

"Who's your sensei?"

"My sensei huh? Well , I guess you could say that, he's the third Hokage...." Freya said.

"WHAT?!?"

"The match starts now!" Genma declared.

* * *

Author: So..... this is one really short chapter.... right? Sorry for the long, long, long delay. I was too lazy too update. Yes, I know, not a shock. So, I shall try to update soon... okay? Have a Happy Chinese New Year to all the chinese peeps! R&R!

-Your not so dedicated writer, Mew Kohaku


	13. Chapter 13

Note: I do not own Naruto, CCS or Pokemon! I only own some of the characters here and the only ccs characters I'm using is Li Syaoran & his sisters & his mother! (Also it contains some spoilers for some Naruto episodes!)

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 13

Freya jumped backwards as a torrent of weapons came speeding in her direction.

"My sensei, is the Sandaime Hokage," Freya repeated louder, a hint of impishness in her voice.

Freya did a backflip, avoiding a lone kunai.

"What?!? You're most definitely lying!" Ichida growled. He ran towards his opponent at high speed while sending out weapons as he went.

_'He's wasting so much...' _Freya thought. She moved her head a little to the right as a shuriken flew past her.

"Well, I might be lying, but at the same time, I might be not.... who knows? By the way Miniko-san, it's kind of barren here, I could easily dodge _**all **_your weapons," Freya said.

Ichida smirked. "I know, I was prepared for this, so I brought _**this**_."

The youngster smirked in satisfaction and produced a small sachet.

Freya's abnormally sharp nose caught its scent.

"Rapid growing forest?"

"Yup. Specially developed for wars actually. I'm surprised you know of it's existence. It's rarely used as the users of the seeds themselves get lost in its amazing maze. It usually lasts for about fifteen minutes or so.... anyway....." Ichida threw a few seeds onto the centre of the arena.

"Now, I have a good chance of hitting you," his smirk widened as the seeds took their toll.

The innocent looking seeds started growing at a horrendous rate. It rapidly grew into a mini forest in the arena, over lapping the concrete fence separating the bleachers from the fighting area. Freya leaped away as a thick vine came spurting her way.

'_I could burn it down,'_ Freya thought. She surveyed the area and looked at the bleachers where all the spectators were seated. _'Or not..... they could get caught in the fire...'_

Freya thought hard to get out of this rut. '_I'll need more proper balance than usual because the forest will keep on growing unexpectedly....'_

Freya had learnt all about these kind of seeds before. She knew the way they worked. She had done in depth research on it when she was devising a way to replace the Li Clan's Dragon Forest should a time comes when one of the wild pokemon residing in there burnt it down.

_'The normal seeds catch fire quickly, unlike the Li version's. The vegetation will keep on growing unexpectedly, it should be a maze because of this....' _Freya thought of all the characteristics of the seeds.

Freya thought of all the powers she possessed and the jutsu and techniques she knew.

"That's right!" Freya exclaimed excitedly.

The girl caught two shurikens with her right index finger.

"What's right?" Ichida asked suspiciously.

As naive as she could get, Freya answered, "I've thought of a way."

Freya stood on a broad branch which had momentarily stopped growing.

"A way?" Ichida dumbly watched his opponent.

_'First, I need to overcome these obstacles. I can avoid the growing vegetation. As long as no fire is used, the place won't catch fire. I can keep track of where I am and where Miniko-san is with my nose.... I should be free to attack him after all this....' _Freya thought.

Freya started removing the loose sash around her hips. She grabbed the ribbon which held her hair into a loose ponytail and pulled it loose. As her hair cascaded around her shoulders, Freya bought her hands on her head.

_'That hairstyle...' _Gaara thought. By now, he hated the Li siblings more than ever because he felt confused about a lot of things concerning them. Freya just added another point to his confusion.

'What the heck are you doing? This ain't no fashion show!" Ichida demanded.

Freya removed her hands from her head. She somersaulted off the branch in a cat-like way.

Ichida looked horrified. As well as everyone except some others. On the Li girl's head, a pair of big fluffy black ears had grown. Looking down her tailbone, she had grown a black tail as well. As if those weren't enough, her nails extended into claws and under her mask, her eyes were a deep shade of emerald green instead of her usual fiery amber eyes.

"I was born with these kind of powers," Freya explained as Ichida continued to gape at her.

"I wished they were white though.... anyway, I can use them at will. They give me cat-like powers. End of story. Any questions?" Freya looked expectantly at her opponent.

Ichida's face had a black look as he digested all this information in.

Up above the balcony where the other ninjas were, Gaara's eyes had widened and he was in a state of shock.

_'C-Cat girl...'_ he thought. _'No, she can't be that person!'_

Kankuro said something that Gaara hadn't wanted to hear. "Those powers.... are like like Koneko's."

"You're right... but I don't think it's her. After all, she disappeared six years ago..." Temari said.

_'That's right, it cant possibly be her...'_ Gaara thought.

"But we never found out _**how**_ she disappeared..." Kankuro said. "For all **we** know, it _**could**_ be her."

_'That's right as well. But I think it was because of me...' _Gaara thought bitterly.

Under his mask, the Kazekage smirked. _'It is definitely her... that other boy must've been the other one... I see.... how interesting....'_

"Wait, wait, wait.... is this a trick or a jutsu?" Ichida asked, he turned around to face Freya.

But she had already gone from her spot.

"Where is she?" Ichida asked himself.

Suddenly, a branch shot out, narrowly missing him.

"Drat it!" Ichida cursed. A stream of colorful words filed out of his mouth.

"You reap what you sow!" Freya's silvery tinkling laughter could be heard.

"You're there!" Ichida flung kunais at the direction where he heard the girl's voice.

Freya on the other hand, saw the kunais coming at her and with her tail, grabbed a stationary branch and swung herself out of the way.

"He's quite hasty isn't he?" Freya asked herself.

Freya jumped towards her opponent, dodging various vegetation as she went.

"There you are," Ichida said, smirking. He threw another round of weapons at her. Freya stopped and held up her right h and, palm facing her opponent. Ichida's weapons instantly froze into ice blocks.

"Wha-? I thought your element composition was water!" Ichida exclaimed.

"Well... expect the unexpected," Freya quoted, shrugging.

Freya clenched her fists and formed an ice pole.

"Are you planning to use that?"

Freya smirked impishly under her mask, "I might be."

"What can that do? It's not the least bit sharp."

That was true. Freya's newly formed ice pole had two rather blunt sides.

_'There's something called pressure points...'_ Freya thought sweat-dropping.

"Well..." Freya said. Instantly, the now cat-girl disappeared.

She appeared briefly at different angles around her opponent. After a few minutes, she appeared right in front of Ichida. Freya hung upside down from a branch in front of Ichida. Her nose of her mask was just a few centimeters away from his.

"This should be easy for me to hit you..." Ichida raised his arms to throw another round of weapons.

As he was about to throw, he suddenly froze and collapsed. At the same time, the forest started shrinking and returned into the form of seeds.

Freya had won the match.

Her ice pole dissolved into thin air. Freya had used her pole and struck different pressure points on Ichida's body, thus making him paralyzed.

The medical team came and carried Ichida away.

"He might have a few fuliginous coulees! I accidentally hit him in a few useless spots," Freya said sheepishly to the medical team.

"A what?"

"Umm... bruises..." Freya explained.

'Right..."

Genma came up to Freya and took hold of her right hand and lifted it up.

"Li Freya of Konohagakure wins this round!"

The audience cheered. They were now even more excited because of the next match. Many of them skipped a day's worth of work just to watch the next match. Uchiha Sasuke against Sabaku no Gaara of Sunagakure.

Freya went back up the stairs.

_'Gaara-chan's and Sasuke-kun's fight is next... I wonder if Sasuke-kun is here yet though..." _Freya thought.

Freya joined her brothers. Her cat ears and tail had already disappeared. Her nails averted back from claws to nails.

Gaara watched her quietly, thinking about her cat-like powers.

* * *

"Sir, Uchiha Sasuke has not arrived yet," a ninja informed the Hokage quietly.

"....Let's give him a few more minutes," the Hokage replied as quietly.

A few minutes of waiting later, Sasuke still has not shown up yet. The audience were getting irritated and rowdy. Most were angered because of the wait.

"Hokage-sama what shall we do? Disqualify Uchiha Sasuke?" the chuunin asked.

"It will be against the rules if we let him be... I guess we should," the Hokage decided.

"Hokage-dono, I would most reconsider that decision. After all, these lords, officials, ninjas and the rest of the spectators mainly came here for this match between my son and the only survivor of the legendary Uchiha clan. Many placed bets on this match as well. I would not think it wise to simply disqualify Uchiha Sasuke," the Kazekage interrupted.

"You're quite right. Well then.. move on to the next match first," the Hokage said.

"But-" the chuunin protested.

"Just do it," the Hokage ordered firmly.

"Ha..." the chuunin disappeared with a puff.

* * *

"Where's the kid?" Kankuro asked. He was getting impatient as well.

"He's not here, obviously," Temari said.

_'God... I don't really think it's worth to go with this plan...' _Temari thought. She looked over at Gaara. '_I don't even wanna think of the consequences should Gaara lose control or if this plan ultimately fails....'_

The referee lazily announced that the match between Sasuke and Gaara was postponed. They were currently moving on to the next match. Aburame Shino against Sabaku no Kankuro.

"Oh no! It's not going as planned! I don't want to fight! I wasn't even planning on fighting!" Kankuro hissed urgently to his sister.

Temari nodded. "I don''t know. Now, I guess you have to fight...."

Ignoring his sister's suggestion of fighting, Kankuro called down to Genma, " I forfeit the fight!"

"What? This means that I have to go and fight that Sand girl now!" Shikamaru groaned.

_'Why in the world did he forfeit?' _Freya mused. She looked over at Kankuro. He had an unsure expression on his face.

"I guess I have no choice then..." Temari spread out her huge iron fan and floated down swiftly into the arena.

It took quite a while before Naruto finally pushed Shikamaru down into the arena.

"This round is Sabaku no Temari against Nara Shikamaru!" Genma brought his hand down, signaling the match to start.

* * *

The match between Shikamaru and Temari had been interesting. But it hadn't been interesting or satisfying enough for the audience who were impatient for Gaara's fight against Sasuke. At the last minute, fortunately, Sasuke had arrived with Kakashi.

Now, Sasuke and Gaara faced each other.

_'Kura....'_ Gaara thought, casting a sideways glance at the audience. '_Wait.. what am I thinking about?!?'_

_'Do your best, Gaara-chan,'_ Freya thought.

_'Huh?' _Gaara looked down at his chest. He could've sworn that the pendant had glowed and felt warm for a moment. He pushed the thought aside and glared coldly at Sasuke.

"So we finally meet in battle huh?" Sasuke said.

"Aa..." Gaara replied flatly, arms folded in their usual manner.

"The match between Uchiha Sasuke of Konohagakure and Sabaku no Gaara of Sunagakure starts now!" Genma brought his hand down as the crowd roared deafeningly.

The match started.

_'Actually, it's pretty much my first time seeing Gaara-chan in combat...' _Freya thought.

"You think she's gonna finally realize the true him?" Syaoran asked his brother quietly.

"Aa.. but don't you think it was strange that Kankuro admitted defeat so easily? I mean, he must be almost as strong as his brother or sister," Rouryuu replied as quietly.

He mentally went through all the possibilities and reasons of why Kankuro would forfeit the fight. Having not enough chakra was impossible because Kankuro had not even fought yet before the matches. Even if he did, he would've not bothered to show up at all.

"Unless of course...." Rouryuu said. "But that's impossible..."

He shook his head of the ridiculous thought he just had. The brothers looked over at Temari and Kankuro who were watching their own brother's fight intently.

"I somehow have an ominous feeling," Syaoran remarked.

"I wonder what are they up to..." Rouryuu said.

"We'll have to be prepared lil' brother..."Rouryuu added.

Syaoran nodded his head in agreement. "I have the strangest feeling that haha's (mother's) warning about the enemies is going to come true anytime soon..."

They returned to watching the match. Temari and Kankuro had jumped down to their brother who had been injured by Sasuke's recently learned technique, the Chidori.

"Oi! Isn't that against the rules?" Rouryuu shouted down to them.

Ignoring him, Kankuro hissed, "Gaara! You're not freaking following the plan! You weren't supposed to take the fight this far!"

"Gaara! Have you forgotten? The signal may come anytime soon! We cannot afford to make mistakes!" Temari said.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and it surprisingly did not throw the spectators into a frenzy. They were fast asleep.

_'The signal!'_ Temari and Kankuro thought at the same time.

"What's happening?" Syaoran demanded. Ninjas started to enter the arena.

"Talk about irony!" Rouryuu surveyed the scene before him.

An ANBU member started shouting loud orders. "Ro team! Up to protect the lords! Li team! Protect the ministers down there!"

He looked directly at the Li siblings. "Neko-Li team! Protect the other spectators!"

Rouryuu merely scoffed. "Excuse me, it was **way** long ago when we were an ANBU unit! Ya hear? D'ya see any of your marks branded on us? We ain't your pet dogs!"

"Rouryuu-nii! This is serious! The safety of the spectators depend on us, who aren't asleep!" Freya said in an urgent tone.

The spectators had been caught in a jutsu which made them fall asleep. Infiltrators were fighting everywhere with the Konoha ninjas.

Freya looked down at where the two boys were previously fighting. Temari and Kankuro were carrying their brother away with Sasuke tailing after them. Baki and Genma were fighting against one another.

"Gaara-chan..." Freya noticed that the traitors and infiltrators were Sand and Sound ninjas. "Why?"

Freya regained her composure and turned to her brothers.

"Rouryuu-nii, Syaoran-nii, the spectators aren't going to get hurt while they're fast asleep. There's no reason to get them all up and throw them into a panic. I suspect there's a beginning of a war going on outside. Please, we should call the pokemon back at the territory to help..."

"You're right. Syao, let's go back and get them," Rouryuu suggested to his brother. Syaoran nodded in agreement.

They both looked expectantly at Freya. "I take it we can trust you to be safe?" Rouryuu asked.

Freya nodded. 'I'm going to help. Hurry up!"

The brothers gave a curt nod and disappeared with a puff.

Freya readied herself and did a huge leap across to the bleachers where the spectators where. She knocked down four ninjas who tried to attack her with a sharp burst of wind.

"How rude!" Freya said, offended. "Four against one isn't fair!"

"That might be so, but with such inhumane strength and skills like yours, that's kind of fair..." a voice said.

"Kakashi-niI!"

"Seems that we were tricked, betrayed, or whatever words can be used..." Kakashi said. He knocked down a ninjas coming at his side.

"My brothers are readying the Li clan's back up help right now...." Freya informed him. "That's right!"

Freya opened her pouch and took our eight little multi-colored balls.

"Planning to let 'em fight?" Kakashi asked. He deflected two kunais.

"They haven't had a good work out in a long time." Freya explained.

She enlarged them and threw them into the air. Eight different species of pokemon with Konoha forehead protectors appeared. Other than that obvious Konoha trait, they also had Freya's kanji name tattooed onto various parts of their bodies.

Obviously, Freya's pikachu led the group.

"Oh? The last time I saw your team, they consisted of other types," Kakashi commented. He bashed two ninjas against one another.

"They're at home..." Freya said. "I trust my brothers to let them join the fight as well... anyway, this is my most trustworthy unit!"

"All right guys! It's a war! Let's help our village! Sound and Sand are the enemies!" Freya shouted. "Let's do it!"

Pikachu being the leader, punched it's fist into the air and yelled, "Pika!"

The rest of them followed in their own lingo and disappeared with a puff as well.

"Most trustworthy unit huh?" Kakashi said, smiling to himself.

"They were my first eight and they grew up with me, especially pikachu," Freya explained.

"Kakashi-sensei!" a voice called.

It was Sakura. Apparently, she wasn't much affected by the sleeping genjutsu that was casted. "What in the world is happening?"

"It seems like the Sand and Sound have betrayed us... the start of a war is happening outside obviously..." Kakashi answered.

"Get down!" he punched a ninja in the face.

"Listen... I want you to wake Naruto and Shikamaru..." Kakashi started.

"And Freya..." he turned to look at the girl. But she was already gone.

"Honestly, she really acts like a cat..." Kakashi said, shaking his head.

* * *

Freya flew in the air and surveyed the situation of Konohagakure. It was really bad.

_'Good,' _she thought. Her clan's pokemon were already helping and getting involved in the war.

She saw a heavy defense of steel and ground-types around the hospital. Motherly pokemon were helping the medic-nins to tend to the injured. At Konoha's rivers, the water and ice-types were helping to attack enemies.

_'Now, I'll go after them...' _she thought of Gaara. '_ I'm sure it isn't his fault this happened....'_

"Li-dono!" a voice called out to her.

She saw two Konoha special-jounins standing next to a huge boulder, trapping a small hut. She floated downwards.

"We're part of the evacuation team. The boulder has blocked this doorway. We can't destroy this boulder without hurting the people inside... there are two elderly people in there and three children," one of them explained.

'_ I can help on the way though...'_ she thought.

" Sure, but bring them to a safe place okay?" Freya said.

She went in front of the boulder and placed her hands on it's sides. Without any apparent difficulty, she lifted it up and placed it on one side.

"Why do I feel so unmanly?" one of them asked his partner.

"All right! Get them to a safe place!" Freya called. She continued with her pursuit.

_' I don't understand why would Gaara-chan do such a thing... He's not bad right?' _Freya thought.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. The girl gasped and fell onto a roof. Freya clutched her aching head which was pulsing with pain.

_'What's wrong with me?' _she thought bewilderedly.

_'I was incarnated into you huh?'_ a voice broke into Freya's mind.

_'Who are you?'_

_'I'm you ...' _the voice echoed.

"Me?" Freya asked weakly.

She sat up ad sighed in relief. The pains were gone now. She stood up to continue her pursuit.

_'What was that?' _Freya thought.

"Oh! Here's an easy target! A little girl!" a voice said.

Freya turned around and saw three sound ninjas and four sand ninjas.

"But she's sort of strange, she has cat ears and a tail!"

Freya regained her spirit quickly. Smiling to herself, she asked, "Are you _**all **_going to attack me?"

"Don't flatter yourself lil' cat girl! I'll attack you and the rest will just watch," a ninja with a scar across his left cheek said.

"Sure.. thank you for your consideration, " Freya replied.

The rest of the ninjas backed away as their comrade charged at Freya quickly.

Freya sighed. "Why do most men _**always **_underestimate us females?"

She disappeared and reappeared behind the surprised ninja. She delivered a simple but sharp blow onto his back. the ninjas collapsed and didn't move.

"He'll wake up in a few minutes or so. Don't worry." Freya assured the rest of the fallen ninja's comrades.

Instead or getting all nervous and jittery, they snorted. "Oh! So it's true! Konohagakure has been slaving their ninjas to work harder. Even young females," one of them said.

"What a cruel village this is," he commented again.

Something inside Freya tweaked a little. Her eyes were glinting a little. Her tail was lashing back and forth angrily.

In a rather cold voice, Freya said, " Konohagakure. Does. **Not**, I repeat, DOES **NOT** SLAVE THEIR NINJAS! YOUR OWN COMRADE HAS JUST FALLEN AND YOU JUST COMMENT ABOUT THE CRUELTY OF THE VILLAGE YOU'RE ATTACKING?? WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE YOU?!?"

Freya dished out the classic angry female punishment.

She slapped the the ninja who insulted her village. Hard. Really, really hard.

From pleasant innocent little cat girl, she turned to a fiesty Konoha villager female ninja. Freya's hand stung where it had hit the ninja's face. Her hand was grazed with traces of blood as well.

The ninja wasn't thrown off his feet but the side of his face where Freya had hit was bleeding. His face was pale with shock. Not with the horror of how strong the younger genin was, but the horror of _**how scary women could be. **_

His other comrades had wiped the smirks of their faces when they saw the condition of their comrade's face after just a slap.

_'Yes, that's it, release your fury on other people....' _a little voice encouraged Freya.

_'Release my fury on other people....'_

_'Yes. That's right, kill the rest, kill them....'_

_'Kill them....kill...' _Freya's eyes widened in sudden realization. " I can't kill them!"

She shook her head. " I don't wanna kill them. They're just arrogant ninjas who were ordered to infiltrate Konoha. Think practical Freya, think logical. Don't think sadistic!" she scolded herself.

Her enemies were looking at her with confused expressions. Should they be afraid because she had just thought of killing them or should they be insulted that she called them arrogant?

Freya lightly smacked her head. She turned to the remaining ninjas, " I have to go now. But I'll have to defeat you first."

She conjured up a staff out of no where and started drawing in mid-air. Every stroke left a shining trail behind. Before long, Freya had drawn a complicated looking circle and was muttering an incantation in a foreign language.

Before they knew or understood what she was doing, the Sand and Sound ninjas were hit by a bright flash and paralyzed. The staff in her hands disappeared and Freya went about, dragging her opponents to trees near by and started gagging and tying them up.

After making sure her victims were properly hidden and trussed up, Freya went back on Gaara's trail.

"I sure hope their comrades can find them after the war is over..." Freya said. "Enemies are everywhere, so I should be extra careful. They could attack me from anywhere!"

Suddenly, she heard a loud crash and activating her cat eyes, she looked far off into the distance. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"That's Gamabunta-jii and that's the Ichibi!"

Author: Thank you for the reviews! Sorry for the long update. You must all be all too familiar with my laziness and random story updates. I know I've been bad and not updating a lot. I'll promise I'll try to update as often as I can. I hope.

-MewKohaku


	14. Chapter 14

The Heart of the Desert-Chapter 14

Freya couldn't believe her eyes. One of the legendary tailed beasts was actually in the village!

_'Who brought it here? Or was it summoned?' _Freya wondered._ 'No, it couldn't be summoned. I know that those tailed beasts are not bound by the summoning techniques.'_

Freya quickened her pace and tried to take the fastest route possible. As she entered the thick forest, she took note of her surroundings more carefully and tried to concentrate on Gaara's aura.

_'I'll have to be careful. Who knows, the enemy might've set some traps...'_

She suddenly stopped on a broad branch and somersaulted backwards off it as a couple of kunais pierced the the area that Freya had previously stood.

"Well, that was close," Freya said, her heart racing. She reached up and made sure that her mask was still in place.

"Not bad....For a girl," someone said.

Freya readied herself for another fight and took a defensive stance.

A young male ninja who was around Syaoran's age with light blue hair and fiery eyes, much similar to those of Freya and her brothers', came out of the shadows of the overhanging branches and leapt down. He wielded a sword and his forehead protector signified the fact that he was from the Sand Village. The sword itself looked magnificent. It's shaft was brass, heavily decorated with precious-looking jewels and the blade was untarnished.

'A sword?' Freya thought.

From the looks of the weapon he was wielding, Freya knew he was no ordinary opponent. Very few ninjas actually used swords in combat. Especially heavy ones like the one her opponent was holding. Freya only knew of three ninjas who actually used swords. Her brothers and occasionally, herself.

She conjured up a simple, basic-looking light sword from nowhere and said, "Swords play is a good form of offense.... shall we?"

Without a word, Freya's opponent swung his sword at her. Freya ducked down and with her sword, clashed against her enemy's sword.

"Oh? You're familiar with the art of sword fighting huh?" her opponent smirked cockily. "Not bad... for a girl."

"You know, girls aren't so weak, you shouldn't underestimate us and the art of sword fighting is pretty popular in my clan," Freya said. She held on tight to the shaft of her sword as she blocked a hard blow from her opponent's heavy blade with her own. She leapt backwards.

"Clan? You're from a clan huh?" her opponent jumped forwards and swung his blade at Freya's legs.

Freya jumped and stood on the blade. Freya was impressed. Her opponent didn't look as if he was struggling with her extra weight on his heavy weapon. Instead, he lifted it up further, throwing Freya up into the air.

"You're pretty strong!" Freya called towards the blue-haired lad. She somersaulted again and landed back down on the branch where they were fighting. She disappeared instantly and reappeared again behind the sand ninja.

The sand ninja quickly turned around and blocked Freya's attack with his sword. Almost immediately after that attack, Freya quickly jabbed the left side of her opponent. Unfortunately, she only managed to injure him with a scratch.

The ninja leapt back a few paces. "You're not bad yourself. What clan are you from?"

Freya grinned mischievously to herself. "That's a secret."

"Oh, secret like your identity huh?" her opponent replied. "Perhaps the Kitty Clan?"

He aimed for her head again.

Freya bent backwards and pulled off a backflip, avoiding his attack.

"Seems like you're quite the acrobat. Are you from the circus?"

"Are you trying to decapitate my head or something?" Freya ignored his question, blocking another blow from the blue haired ninja.

"Now, that's the idea. Or I could amputate your legs," he said nonchalantly, swinging the blade once again, aiming for her legs. Freya jumped.

"Or maybe, skewer your cute little heart, kitty."

Instead of a sadistic smile, her opponent once again smirked at her cockily, his fiery eyes bright, and aimed the tip of his sharp blade at the left side of Freya's chest.

Freya bent backwards again, this time, she kicked out her legs and kicked her opponent's legs. The blue-haired ninja fell down, cursing. Freya took a step backwards, sword raised in front of her in act of defense.

"Now, that wasn't very polite you know," Freya scolded.

Her opponent got up, ruffling his blue hair. "You weren't exactly polite as well, kitty"

"Please don't call me kitty. Or I might really turn into a cat you know," Freya replied.

"Well, take off your mask and maybe I won't call you kitty," he answered smartly.

Freya smiled. "No."

She put her hands on her head.

The blue-haired ninja closed his eyes to blink. As soon as he reopened it again, he got the shock of his life. Freya now had twitching cat ears and a long, furry tail.

"What the hell?" he stuttered.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Freya disappeared once again. He turned his head around, expecting Freya to reappear there, but instead, Freya hung down from a branch above, her masked face now just inches away from his. His eyes widened in shock.

He was about to jump away but Freya acted more quickly. She struck his chest with the shaft of her sword in a hard blow.

The blue-haired ninja coughed out blood and fell to the ground. After a few minutes, the blue-haired ninja showed no signs of moving or getting back up. The sword in Freya's hands disappeared and she walked over to her unconscious opponent and proceeded to getting him off the tree and onto the ground. She tied him up and hid him in some foliage with his sword safely next to him.

"You were a very interesting opponent," Freya said as she left him to pursue Gaara once again.

His presence was becoming harder to sense, almost as if he was disappearing entirely. Freya sensed a feeling of panic rising in her chest. She kept assuring herself that Gaara would be fine. But Freya couldn't fully convince herself that he was fine. As soon as she heard a loud explosion and more following after the first, Gaara's aura weakened drastically and Freya couldn't stop the panic anymore. Something bad was happening to Gaara and Freya didn't want that.

She frantically ran and ran, following Gaara's fading aura. As soon as she arrived to a badly damaged area, Freya's panic partially subsided. Gaara's weak aura was gradually becoming easier to sense. Freya was horrified to find Sasuke and Sakura badly injured. But there were no signs of Naruto or Gaara. She leapt up a tree, but couldn't spot neither Gamabunta nor the Ichibi. But she could still sense their presence.

"Freya..."

Freya looked downwards and saw Sasuke looking up at her. She swiftly leapt down towards him and knelt beside him.

"Are you okay? What happened to Naruto and Gaara-chan?"

"I'm fine. Something's happened. Naruto summoned this huge frog and that redhead, he turned into some kind of monster..." Sasuke said slowly. "Be careful Freya, that redheaded friend of yours is a monster. Don't be fooled."

_'Gaara-chan? Are you serious Freya? You can call him 'chan'?? That guy's a monster! Not a pet cat or dog!'_ Sasuke thought bewilderedly.

"He's not a monster," Freya said quietly.

"What?"

"Gaara-chan's not a monster!" Freya almost yelled. She felt her eyes become hot and tears were threatening to fall. She clenched her fists tightly.

"I'm sorry Sasuke. I trust you. I really do. But when you say that Gaara-chan's a monster, I'm not so sure I can believe that..." Freya said quietly. She truly believed that the person that she had gotten to know over the past month was not evil.

"Where are they?" Freya asked Sasuke.

Sasuke kept quiet and pointed towards the direction where he suspected that Gaara and Naruto had gone to. Freya uttered a silent 'thank you' and left.

_'Man... I wonder what's with Freya and that kid...' _Sasuke thought. He had never seen Freya like that.

* * *

"Oi! Syao! Where's Freya?" Rouryuu yelled over the noise.

"I have no idea!" Syaoran yelled back, as he leapt upwards and delivered a 360 degree kick to the ninjas surrounding him. "She must've gone after that Gaara kid!"

"She still trusts him?!?" Rouryuu yelled back. He grabbed the heads of two ninjas coming at him from the left and right sides respectively and collided their heads against each others. He put his hands on his hips and turned towards his brother, looking for an answer.

After Syaoran fought off another opponent, he yelled back towards Rouryuu, "Who knows?!?"

* * *

(A/N: Sorry for the constant interruptions. But I really wanted to make things a bit clear. It's true that my story follows the plot of the original Naruto, but I'm changing the storyline a little to suit the plot that I'm currently writing. I hope it won't trouble you readers. Please bear in mind that what I write here doesn't necessarily have to follow the exact plot of the original anime/manga. Thank you!)

Freya's emotions were a mess. Part of her hated herself for being so hard on Sasuke. But part of her really meant what she had said. Gaara wasn't a monster. She reached a clump of branches and parted them. As soon as she did, she was greeted with a terrible sight.

Part of the forest was cleared away, burn marks scorched the ground. The trees were fallen and the stumps were jagged, as if like broken pencils. Freya felt a presence and quickly leapt away as Gamabunta and the Ichibi crashed towards her.

"Ah! Freya-chan! What are you doing?!?" she heard Naruto's voice call.

Freya looked upwards to see Naruto on top of Gamabunta's head.

"Naruto! Where's Gaara-chan?" Freya yelled back, ignoring his question.

Naruto's expression changed to that of a more serious one and he averted his gaze towards the tailed beast in front of him and Gamabunta.

"He's inside there. That guy. That monster. Gaara fell asleep…he's trapped within that monster," Naruto said.

Freya widened her eyes in shock, her whole body became numb as she sensed Gaara's aura emitting from the forehead of the tailed beast.

_'Gaara-chan…'_

"Wait! Freya-chan! What are you doing! Stop! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!" Naruto's attempts to stop his friend were futile.

Freya got caught in between the two blasts from Gamabunta and the Ichibi respectively.

"FREYA-CHAN!" Naruto screamed.

The clouds of dust cleared away, revealing Freya falling rapidly downwards. The mask on Freya's face was absent. And she seemed to have lost consciousness.

"Why you…" Naruto uttered.

Gaara seemed to have surfaced a little from the impact earlier, he was wide awake, but he was frozen still. He was helplessly watching Freya as she fell.

"Wha-…" Gaara looked at the girl's face. Freya seemed to have regained a bit of her consciousness.

"Gaara-chan…" she sputtered weakly. Blood trickled from her mouth from the impact of the attacks from Gamabunta and the Ichibi earlier.

"No… you can't be… "

_'I had a feeling to want you to be safe and wanted to wish you luck. So I made this….'_

**Kura's** words echoed in his mind as he clutched that pendant she had given him.

"You…. you, I don't think you're bad. You're not bad right?" Freya asked, a painful, weak but somewhat genuine smile on her face. " I believe in you.,."

She lost consciousness once again.

"Kura…."

That was when he lost it. Gaara's body froze and his chest started to hurt.

"NO! YOU CAN'T BE KURA!" Gaara's eyes had a crazy, bewildered look as he clenched his head in his hands.

Memories of him and Kura flashed before his eyes as he watched Freya as she lay on the ground, unmoving. There was a sharp pain in his chest as realization dawned upon him. Meeting her at the gates leading into the Li territory had been no coincidence had it?

Gaara got caught off-guard as he was still in shock. Naruto seized by anger, took the chance and delivered a hard punch to Gaara's face. The Ichibi crumbled into dust and Gaara fell to the ground as well. He landed a few distances away from where Freya was and turned his head to look at her face.

There was no mistaking it. It was either they were twins or they were the same person. But still, Gaara couldn't take it. What would she think now? What would Kura or Freya or whatever her real name was, think of him now? The monster that he was?

"Listen here," Naruto's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"I don't know what the relationship between you and Freya-chan is, but it is clear that you can't accept that fact that she's Kura as well. Do you know her full name? It's Li Sakura Freya. Kura is derived from her middle name. They're the same person," Naruto said.

"But, they can't be…. can they?" Gaara was still in denial although the facts were clear to him. He still wanted to cling onto the last shred of hope that they were not the same person.

"Stop denying it!" Naruto said, clenching his fists. **"****_Kura is Freya"_**

Those three words. Those three simple words that were said by the blonde stung Gaara like ice shards.

* * *

"Where's Gaara?" Kankuro asked his sister. As he increased his speed to join her pace.

" I'm not sure, but I saw 'that thing' earlier," Temari replied. "But it's gone now. I can't spot it from anywhere…"

"So meaning that someone actually took Gaara down?" Kankuro asked, a look of clear surprise on his face. "Now, that's something. I wonder who was it…"

"Anyway, we'd better get him and hurry out of here. Baki said that we'd have to retreat now. Something's happened to the Kazekage," Temari said.

After awhile, Kankuro spotted Gaara.

"Hey look! Isn't that Gaara? Lying over there? He seems conscious…" Kankuro said, straining his eyes to get a better look.

Both of them let downwards and lifted up their brother in between them and proceeded to carry him away. As she was lifting up Gaara, Temari spotted the unconscious Freya, her mask not present.

_'Isn't that the Li girl?' _Temari thought, recognizing Freya by her clothes. _'She seems strangely familiar…'_

Temari turned her attention away from Freya and concentrated on getting her brother out.

"Kankuro… Temari…" Gaara quietly said.

"Huh?" Kankuro asked, looking at his brother.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Gaara apologized quietly.

Kankuro looked away. "Forget about it."

The redheaded ninja looked back at Freya's injured form. His eyes felt hot, the back of his throat and his chest ached. His vision was getting blurry.

_'Am I losing consciousness?'_

"Oi Gaara! Are you alright?" Kankuro asked, a panicked tone in his voice.

"What?" Gaara asked. His brother looked at him strangely.

Temari's voice interrupted. "You- you're_ crying"_

Gaara felt surprised. He touched his face and looked at his hand. Sure enough, it was wet. So he wasn't losing consciousness after all.

"I'm alright…" Gaara answered quietly.

_'Freya…' _Gaara thought. Had she caused him to cry for the first time in many years. So long after he had sworn to never shed a single tear for anyone, even himself, again?

* * *

Author: So….. after I dunno, eons? I updated. ;-; I'm so sorry! It's just that… stuff… you know…. school and etc. has been a distraction for me. Cause I was working on another story for my fictionpress account. The document got deleted after the computer the document got stored in was sent for reformatting. ;-; I decided to come back to this one in the meantime. So I hope it was not too short and you readers enjoyed it. Thank you to the people who have reviewed/favourite-ed my story even though I wasn't updating constantly. It's a great motivation for someone as hopeless as me.

-MCB


End file.
